Bears OC Shane Waldron takes responsibility for disastrous fourth-and-goal vs. Colts Sep 26, 2024

The Chicago Bears’ offense attracted plenty of attention in the offseason for their acquisition of upgrades at the skilled positions, but through three weeks, they’ve left plenty to be desired.

Take last Sunday, for example, when the Bears faced a fourth-and-goal from the Indy 1, and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron dialed up a speed option that was doomed from the start. If one play defined where the Bears stand offensively, it was that one, a call that took Chicago too long to line up to execute, and failed rather definitively (running back D’Andre Swift lost 12 yards).

Waldron accepted responsibility for that doomed play and the Bears’ struggles on offense thus far when speaking with reporters on Thursday.

“All those things start with me,” he said. “I’ve got to be better in that situation; I will moving forward.”

Waldron admitted that in the aforementioned scenario, he’d have preferred if the offense had lined up quicker, and he noted that two previous interior runs didn’t result in success.

But when it came to granular changes, Waldron declined to dive into the details, instead speaking generally about the plans to improve while touting the team’s current strength: internal communication.

“I know we haven’t lived up to what we want to be in our building right now in terms of some of the execution there,” Waldron said. “But the thing we can rely on is the communication has been great, it’s been consistent and it’s ever growing. … We’re built the right way. The players are built the right way. Seeing that keep improving as we move forward is something that we’ll show.”

At first glance, the Bears’ offense has an issue in the trenches. They’ve struggled mightily to protect rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who has often been forced to play hero just to give himself a chance to throw the football. With this in mind, Chicago’s pass-heavy approach to their Week 3 loss to the Colts — a team that surrendered 213 rushing yards in a Week 1 loss to the Texans — seemed foolish, but also spoke to the Bears’ inability to block well enough to run the ball effectively.

Essentially, because the Bears quickly realized they weren’t going to be able to run the ball on the Colts, they asked Williams to throw 52 passes. The formula unsurprisingly failed to deliver positive results.

When it comes to the running game, Waldron was asked why his team’s offensive line is having such a tough time executing in 2024. He redirected responsibility from the players up front to all 11 members of the offense, stressing the goal is all about “coming together, all 11 in the run game.”

“Desired identity hasn’t changed,” Waldron said on Thursday. “We want to have the marriage of the run and the pass. … (The) promising thing from this past week was seeing some of our pass game come to life. … The thing that we’re working on relentlessly is getting our run game going, improving in that area so that we can play a balanced game.”

If that works, perhaps Williams will be given a respite from the constant pressure he’s faced so far. But so far, there aren’t any indicators it will magically improve. And yes, Williams and the passing game did improve in Week 3, as the rookie threw for over 350 yards and tallied his first two passing touchdowns of his career.

But approaching each game with a one-dimensional offense is a recipe for disaster. Waldron knows this and is hoping the work the Bears are doing behind the scenes will produce better results.