The Chicago Bears found a way to lose on Sunday, losing to the Washington Commanders on a last-second Hail Mary frmo Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown. But, somehow, that wasn’t even the biggest screw-up the Bears had on the day.
The most ridiculous mistake came on a third-and-goal handoff to backup center Doug Kramer Jr. from the one-yard line. The handoff was fumbled, the Commanders recovered, and at the time it appeared to be a backbreaking 4th quarter turnover.
That’s the call in a 12-7 game that they’re trailing in on a crucial third-and-goal play. There is no defending that kind of call in that situation by Bears Offensive Coordinator Shane Waldron.
But, he felt confident in the play. Here’s Pro Football Talk with more.
In the aftermath of the loss, head coach Matt Eberflus said it was a 1-yard play, noting it was part of the game plan. In his own weekly news conference, Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron defended the play call.
“Reflecting on it, I think every play call that doesn’t work out, you go back and look at it and see, was it the best call in that situation? And I think I’ll always look inwardly first,” Waldron said. “And every play-call that doesn’t work out, obviously, you’re going to have a sense of, what could I have done better as a play-caller? What situations could I have put those guys in?
“But also, going back to the play, I have all the confidence in the world in all of our players. And I think something we’ve repped and worked on came up in the moment as a third-and-1 call there. It didn’t work out. But what I was most proud about was seeing our defense then get a three-and-out, our offense comes over to the sideline, everyone’s eyes are up, everyone’s communicating, ready to attack the next drive — and have a chance to score on the next drive as well.”
Frankly, Shane Waldron has been a pretty bad offensive coordinator all year. It’s no wonder that many Seahawks fans were happy to see him leave. After a few good weeks for Waldron, he regressed to his uncreative, shotgun-heavy style of play-calling that hurt the team early in the season. The quicker that Caleb Williams and company get a different coaching staff in there, the better.