How 'reading tea leaves' and some luck put Bears offense on the brink of something special (2024)

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears have nearly everything they need on paper to transform into one of the NFL’s most prolific offenses.

Now, they’re working on taking their abundance of riches and turning them into an attack that should be feared accordingly. They loaded up in the draft with quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze, traded for star wideout Keenan Allen and added Gerald Everett to a tight end room that was already headlined by Cole Kmet. Not to mention they still have receiver D.J. Moore and a talented group of running backs, including free-agent addition D’Andre Swift.

Plus, after firing offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, the unit should get a boost with Shane Waldron, who spent four seasons in Los Angeles with Sean McVay before helping guide quarterback Geno Smith’s turnaround with the Seattle Seahawks.

“I feel like we do a really good job of working ahead,” Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham told The Athletic. “Really starting the process a year early, looking at our roster needs, where we think our pressure-point positions are going to be and then making sure we do a good job of evaluating the free-agent market and the draft market at those positions.

“We do a really good job of making sure we read the tea leaves and then making sure we devise a really good plan.”

The plan was about as well-executed as the Bears could have hoped, considering they’ve been floundering in a rebuild for a while. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 2010 postseason and haven’t employed a head coach for longer than four years since Lovie Smith’s departure following the 2012 season. Last year, the Bears ranked 18th in scoring, just the second time in a decade they cracked the top 20.

It’s not like they hadn’t tried to make wholesale changes during that stretch, either. They traded up to draft quarterback Mitch Trubisky in 2017, famously leaving Patrick Mahomes on the board. They also traded up for Justin Fields in 2021. Neither worked out, and along with numerous other transgressions led to the firing of general manager Ryan Pace.

General manager Ryan Poles and Cunningham couldn’t make similar mistakes, and they got some fortuitous bounces along the way. In 2023, the Bears traded the No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers, who drafted quarterback Bryce Young, for a package that included Moore and the top selection that was used on Williams — not to mention 2023 10th overall pick Darnell Wright, promising young cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and another second-round pick to come in 2025.

And among the planning ahead, it was clear well in advance for any team the Los Angeles Chargers would be shedding cap. The Bears made the hardest run at Allen. Then in the draft, while Odunze was heavily linked to the Bears at No. 9, there was still a chance he could have gone a pick or two earlier as teams behind the Bears jockeyed to trade up.

The Bears were even fortunate with Waldron. Like so many others, they were looking for a disciple of the McVay or Kyle Shanahan system, and Waldron was free to interview while the Seahawks were in their head coaching search.

“There’s a little bit of luck involved,” Cunningham said. “We can’t sit here and say we knew the Panthers were going to get that No. 1 pick, and it just kind of fell that way. Once we started to see how those things started to take shape, making sure to evaluate the quarterback class this year, too. It was one of the better quarterback classes in recent memory, so we wanted to make sure we did our due diligence despite having a proven player with Justin here.”

For now, all appearances suggest the plan was a savvy one, but plenty of teams with fun Madden rosters have been humbled before.

Caleb Williams is MONEY on the run.

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— NFL (@NFL) August 10, 2024

Williams has made his share of flashy plays this summer to highlight his truly astronomical potential, but he must still improve his consistency. The offensive line, which also needs to prove it can be consistent, has to give Williams a chance. And Waldron has to find a way to keep everyone healthy and fed, whether it’s his three No. 1-caliber receivers or that stable of running backs.

“Communication is the key to that because it is going to be a challenge,” Waldron told The Athletic. “There are only so many (touches) to go around. Being able to openly communicate with those guys and have those guys feeling comfortable to communicate back to us as coaches.

“If they’re seeing something over the course of a game or a way they can get more involved if something is happening, we’re always going to be better on offense when we’re balanced and the defense has to honor every blade of grass on the field with our different pieces.”

Success, of course, will ultimately be measured in wins and losses, but the Bears are equally invested in the long-term development of Williams. They’ve been starved for a true franchise quarterback for decades, so the organization is inheriting a level of optimism with Williams that it hasn’t had in quite some time.

If they take their lumps but Williams shows enough to validate his standing as a franchise cornerstone, that’ll be a win, too. The Bears are confident in their plan to progress Williams in his first season.

“It started with the evaluation process,” Cunningham said. “Getting to know the person, making sure he’s intrinsically motivated, that he wants to continue to grow and continue to get better himself, which he does every single day he’s out there like a man on a mission, whether it be in the film room with Shane and (QB coach) Kerry (Joseph) and (offensive assistant/quarterbacks and receivers) Ryan Griffin or on the practice field. So he’s intentional about his growth.

“And we have coaches here who are intentional about growing him and making sure we do things to the best of his ability. If he likes things done a certain way, if he learns a certain way, we’re going to cater toward that. That’s the only way, regardless of the position, you want to make sure you put the person in the best position to be successful.”

Waldron talks through every up and down with Williams, whether it’s a daily event or something with more of a long-term outlook. He doesn’t bypass any details.

Every dose of information, either within the playbook or something on the field, is integral to Williams’ growth. Waldron used Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud as an example, noting they started the season with a couple losses and failed to find the end zone in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens.

But Stroud and the Texans rebounded to become one of the league’s best stories in 2023. If the Bears can maintain some balance on their upward trajectory, their offense could carry them into the playoffs for the first time in four years.

“The goal for a rookie quarterback is just daily improvement,” Waldron said. “If he sticks with that and sticks with the process, he has a chance to be great as we’re going through this.”

(Photo of Shane Waldron and Caleb Williams: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Jeff Howe is the NFL National Insider for The Athletic. A native of Lowell, Mass., and a UMass graduate, he previously covered the New England Patriots from 2009-21. Howe, who has been with The Athletic since 2018, is the author of “If These Walls Could Talk: New England Patriots.” Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffphowe