Honestly, is McKinney wrong? What are we doing here? I get the current NFL interception leader felt (rightfully) disrespected, but he says these kinds of things as if the Bears don’t have enough problems in themselves.
“I hope so, but I don’t give a damn about what he knows,” McKinney said about Moore’s dismissive offseason comments. “This dude walked out on … I’ve been playing (NFL) football for five years now, and I’ve been watching football for longer than that, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a … You’re supposed to be the guy, and you’re just walking off the field. You’re walking off the field on a rookie quarterback that you’ve been praising, so it’s like, that’s a whole other story.”
You know what really stings about McKinney calling Moore’s character into question? Knowing the Bears won’t do anything about it. Not one modicum of fight. There isn’t a single player on Chicago’s active roster that has beaten the Packers as a Bear. The Bears also haven’t beaten Green Bay once this decade. Most of the time, the games in this “rivalry” lately resemble a glorified scrimmage for the Packers.
The Bears are already in the NFL’s dark abyss by their own doing. Nothing some Packers veteran says will do anything to make their suffering or frustration any worse.
Keenan Allen explains why former Seahawks OC Shane Waldron failed in Chicago
The Chicago Bears relieved former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron of his duties earlier this week. Waldron was replaced as their OC by Thomas Brown, who previously worked under Sean McVay in the NFC West. Seahawks fans were not surprised by the decision based on how ineffective their own offense was last season under his ruling.
Waldron was allowed to interview elsewhere following the departure of head coach Pete Carroll. New head coach Mike Macdonald appointed former Washington Huskies OC Ryan Grubb as the new play caller. Grubb has already been an upgrade, considering Waldron’s offense in Seattle lacked identity and productivity.
Bears veteran receiver Keenan Allen is an excellent judge of a coach’s ability to successfully coordinate an offense. Allen is a six-time Pro Bowler and potential future Hall of Famer. Unfortunately for Waldron, he recently went into detail over his coaching failures.
“He was too nice of a guy,” Allen said. Organized team activities, training camp, we fell into a trap of letting things go and not holding people accountable. That’s a slippery slope. Just professionalism and doing things the right way from the beginning,” Allen concluded his critiques with.
Why didn’t it click with Shane Waldron? Keenan Allen: “too nice of a guy.OTAs, camp, we fell into a trap of letting things go & not holding people accountable & that’s a slippery slope. Just professionalism and doing things the right way from the beginning.”
H/t @danwiederer
Waldron failed in Chicago despite having the No. 1 overall pick and quarterback, Caleb Williams, from the 2024 NFL Draft. The Bears have a loaded offensive supporting cast with DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Rome Odunze, and D’Andre Swift in addition to Allen. Despite that, the Bears just went 23-straight possessions without a touchdown and are on a three-game losing streak. They’re currently last place in the NFC North division.
The Seahawks are far better off with Grubb as their offensive coordinator.
It has been a brutal stretch for former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. After two seasons with the Seahawks, Waldron was allowed to interview elsewhere following the departure of head coach Pete Carroll. A gentle way of saying “you are not returning next year.” With good reason, I might add, since Waldron’s offenses in Seattle lacked an identity, cohesion or ability to make crucial adjustments.
This offseason, Waldron left the Emerald City for the Windy City, and unfortunately the change of scenery was not better for him. On Tuesday morning it was announced the Chicago Bears had fired Waldron, following their abysmal 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots at home.
Bears now officially have announced that offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has been fired and offensive passing game coordinator Thomas Brown has been promoted to offensive coordinator.
Despite having the No. 1 quarterback from the 2024 NFL draft, Caleb Williams, and another top receiver from college last year in Rome Odunze, Chicago is once again fielding another bottom-tier anemic offense. The Bears have now gone 23-straight possessions without a touchdown and are on a three-game losing streak. They have returned to last place in the NFC North, which is where they finished in the previous two seasons.
The writing was on the wall about Waldron’s chances in Chicago. Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba didn’t exactly give his former OC a ringing endorsement when he was asked about him this offseason. Looking back, JSN’s silence was about as loud of a warning he could have given.
Of course, while Waldron’s departure from his position in Chicago is likely warranted, it’s hard to say he also wasn’t a sacrificial lamb of sorts. Two things can be true. Firing an offensive coordinator is a classic move a head coach, whose head is likely next on the proverbial chopping block, can make to prolong his own employment status. Matt Eberflus is in his third season as Chicago’s top man and nothing has looked good. He has a 14-29 record and despite consecutive last place finishes to start his tenure with the Bears, he was inexplicably allowed to return for the 2024 campaign.
Perhaps making a switch from Waldron to Thomas Brown will help give Chicago’s offense the spark it needs. Otherwise, Eberflus will likely be updating his resume just like his former offensive coordinator.
Should the Seahawks claim G Nate Davis off waivers?
The right guard position has been a massive weakness for the Seattle Seahawks’ offense this season. Starting blocker Anthony Bradford has struggled all season long. Pro Football Focus has credited Bradford with allowing five sacks and being whistled for nine penalties. He unfortunately leads all guards in both categories.
Despite his lackluster showings, rookie Christian Haynes has been unable to permanently dethrone him. Haynes has received opportunities to rotate into the lineup, but the first-year guard hasn’t provided the offense with an upgrade. The former UConn standout has earned an overall grade of 48.0 from PFF for his sporadic performances.
A potential solution hit the waiver wire on Wednesday morning. The Chicago Bears released Nate Davis from his contract. The move arrives halfway into a disastrous three-year, $30 million contract signed in free agency last offseason.
The #Bears have released veteran G Nate Davis, who they shopped prior to the trade deadline. He started 13 times over the last two seasons for them.
The Bears ended up paying Davis more than $20.4 million for 13 starts. Davis was routinely injured throughout his tenure with the Bears. His effort level was routinely questioned by the coaching staff and fan base.
Davis has been benched and even a healthy scratch after a lackluster start to his campaign. The veteran Davis, a third-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, must clear waivers before reaching free agency. Davis’ high-price contract makes him a near guarantee to pass through waivers, but Seahawks GM John Schneider could consider claiming him.
If Davis clears, the Seahawks would be free to negotiate a brand-new contract with his representation. Bringing in Davis would be a risk given his reputation in Chicago. Given their weekly problem at right guard, would Seattle consider rolling the dice? Time will reveal.
Previewing the Bears ahead of Sunday’s NFC North showdown at Soldier Field in Week 11.
The Green Bay Packers will come out of the bye and travel to Chicago to play the rival Bears in Week 11 of the 2024 season.
The Packers, at 6-3 and in good shape in the NFC playoff race entering the second half, are hoping to get hot over the last two months of the season. The Bears, meanwhile, have lost three straight games following their bye week and just fired their offensive coordinator.
Can the Packers continue their dominance over the Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field?
Here’s a closer look at the Bears entering Week 11:
Last week (Loss, 19-3 to Patriots)
The Bears gained only 142 total yards, allowed nine sacks, scored only one field goal and gave up five scoring drives in a disappointing loss to the lowly New England Patriots at a boo-filled Soldier Field last Sunday. The Bears were 6.0-point favorites but lost by 16 — the third biggest defeat of Week 10. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams completed 16 passes for only 120 yards and lost 51 yards on nine sacks. The Bears had only one play from scrimmage over 15 yards. Chicago’s defense delivered an interception of rookie quarterback Drake Maye, but the Patriots rushed for 144 yards, allowed only one sack and won the time of possession battle. The Bears tied the game at 3-3 in the second quarter, but the Patriots scored 16 straight points to end the game.
Quarterback play
First overall Caleb Williams is struggling. After throwing four touchdown passes in a win over the Jaguars in London before the bye, Williams has completed 48 of 95 passes (50.5 percent) for 468 yards (4.93 per attempt), zero touchdowns and zero interceptions while taking 18 sacks and losing a fumble. The Bears have scored only 27 total points during the three-game losing streak. Williams loves to hold the football and improvise, but he’s found it difficult to play consistently using this playstyle at the NFL level. Among 34 qualified quarterbacks, Williams ranks 32nd in completion percentage, 29th in yards per attempt, 30th in success rate, 28th in passer rating, 33rd in sack percentage and 31st in net yards per attempt. He’s also last in PFF pass grade. Now he’ll be operating under a new playcaller just 10 games into his rookie season.
Line of scrimmage
By pass-blocking grade at PFF, the Bears are actually quite good up front on offense — ranking 10th overall entering Week 11. Injuries have affected the starting five in recent weeks, but Caleb Williams’ desire to hold the ball and improvise is a big reason why the rookie quarterback has been sacked an NFL-high 38 times in nine games. Running the football has been an issue — the Bears are averaging just 4.0 yards per carry and among the league’s worst in rushing success rate. The Bears defense has also struggled against the run, giving up 4.8 yards per carry. They are better rushing the passer, with the 10th best pass-rushing grade at PFF. Montez Sweat, Gervon Dexter, Demarcus Walker and Darrell Taylor all have 19 or more pressures this season.
Turnovers
The Bears are actually one of the league’s best teams in turnover margin. With only eight giveaways (tied for fifth fewest) and 16 takeaways (tied for fifth most), the Bears are plus-8 overall, trailing only the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers for the NFL lead. After turning the ball over six times in the first three games, the Bears have just two turnovers — an NFL low — over the last seven weeks. Defensively, Chicago is 4-2 when producing two or more takeaways this season. Winning the ball will be a big part of winning Sunday for the Packers.
Injury situations
Last week, the Bears were without safety Jaquon Brisker (concussion), offensive tackle Braxton Jones (knee), edge rusher Darrell Taylor (knee), defensive lineman Andrew Billings, offensive tackle Darnell Wright (knee) and defensive back Jaylon Jones. Guard Teven Jenkins left the loss to the Patriots with an ankle injury. This is a hurting Bears team along the line of scrimmage. Wednesday’s injury report will provide additional updates on the Bears’ injury situation in Week 11.
Players to know
RB DeAndre Swift: He leads the Bears in total touches (167) and total yards (794). The Bears have struggled to get him going as a runner (4.0 per carry, 45.7 percent success rate).
S Kevin Byard: The veteran safety is having an excellent first season in Chicago. He is the Bears’ highest graded defensive starter at Pro Football Focus through 10 weeks.
DL Gervon Dexter: The 6-6, 312-pounder interior disruptor has a team-high 4.0 sacks and 13 quarterback hits. He’s quick and powerful as a pass-rusher.
WR Rome Odunze: The Bears’ other first-round pick leads the team in receiving yards (414), and he’s averaging more yards per catch and more yards per target than D.J. Moore.
TE Cole Kmet: He’s averaging 9.3 yards per target and has a team-high three touchdown passes, so it’s possible he’ll become a bigger part of the passing game down the stretch.
P Tory Taylor: The rookie punter actually has more punting yards (2,153) than Caleb Williams has passing yards (1,785) in 2024.
Former Wisconsin Badgers assistant becomes Chicago Bears interim offensive coordinator
Former Wisconsin running backs coach Thomas Brown was named interim offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears on Tuesday.
The move arrived shortly after the Bears brass fired former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. The team’s recent three-game losing streak, coupled with lofty expectations surrounding star quarterback Caleb Williams, spurred the release.
With the Chicago Bears at 4-5 on the season, Brown will now manage the offense for the time being.
Brown’s connection to Wisconsin goes back to 2014. Under former Badger head coach Gary Anderson, Brown captained a running back room featuring 2014 Heisman Trophy runner-up Melvin Gordon and future NFL running back Corey Clement.
Backed by over 3,600 rushing yards and 38 rushing touchdowns from Gordon and Clement, Wisconsin rolled to an 11-3 record, Big Ten Championship Game appearance and victory over #19 Auburn in the Outback Bowl.
Sources: Shane Waldron is out as #Bears offensive coordinator.
Following his tenure at UW, Brown spent time as the running backs coach at Georgia (2015), Miami-FL (2016-18) and South Carolina (2019) before making the jump to the NFL level.
There, he served Los Angeles Rams’ running backs coach in 2020 and assistant head coach from 2021-22 before being hired as the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in ’23.
Brown assumed duties as the Bears’ passing game coordinator in 2024. The former Wisconsin assistant will now take a stab at calling the plays for Williams and company for the foreseeable future.
The Bears are next on the field on Sunday against the Packers.
Whenever Notre Dame goes on the road to play Navy, a large venue always is in order. There’s a great deal that goes into the history of this rivalry, so a stadium worthy of it is a must.
Halloween 2026 will be the next time the Midshipmen act as the home team in this game, and a stadium new to both the rivalry and the Irish will enter the fold. During that season, the teams will meet at Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots and Revolution in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The Irish never have played at Gillette Stadium, and this rivalry never has had a game in the New England region. The Midshipmen made their first appearance at the stadium last year for the Army-Navy Game.
This is the second 2026 Irish road game to be scheduled at an NFL stadium. They will open the season against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Irish and Badgers were to meet at the home of the Packers as part of the 2020 Shamrock Series, but COVID-19 squashed those plans. They ultimately met for that game in 2021 at Soldier Field in Chicago, the home of the Bears.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.
Here’s the 2025 NFL draft order following Week 10:
At 1-7 entering Week 9, the Carolina Panthers had little to no (closer to no) playoff hopes left. And in what’s become an annual occurrence for their fans, who haven’t seen their team play football past the regular season since the 2017 campaign, “draft season” arrived a bit early.
But something funny has happened over the last two weeks—they’ve actually won . . . twice!
The Panthers captured their second straight victory this past Sunday. Clinched by a game-winning field goal by kicker Eddy Piñeiro, the 20-17 walk-off triumph over the New York Giants moved the team to 3-7 heading into their bye.
Ok, yeah, those playoff hopes are still pretty much non-existent. So, yeah, where the Panthers currently stand in the draft queue remains more pertinent than where they stand in the postseason race.
Here, via Tankathon, is the 2025 NFL draft order heading into Week 11:
*Key: Pick No.. Team (record, strength of schedule)
Waldron was fired after just 9 games and the Bears at the bottom in nearly every offensive metric
The Detroit Lions offense played at about a C-minus level on the road in Houston. Yet Jared Goff and friends still managed to eke put 26 points and a road win over a top-10 defense.
Things aren’t going nearly as well in Chicago. The Bears have scored just two touchdowns in their last three games, all losses. Caleb Williams and the Bears offense haven’t found the end zone in the last two weeks, and that has led to a change.
The Bears fired first-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday. No other changes were immediately made, but embattled head coach Matt Eberflus had hinted that others could be coming.
After evaluating our entire operation, I decided that it is in the best interest of our team to move in a different direction with the leadership of our offense,” Eberflus said via the Bears. “This decision was well-thought-out, one that was conducted deliberately and respectfully. I would like to thank Shane for his efforts and wish him the best moving forward.”
Waldron took over in Chicago in 2034 after being the OC in Seattle for three seasons under Pete Carroll. Waldron previously worked with Jared Goff in Los Angeles as the Rams passing game coordinator and QB coach.
Chicago ranks 24th in scoring and 30th in yards, though the Bears rank dead last in both in the three games since their bye week. The Bears are in the bottom five in yards per play, sacks allowed, YAC on receptions and third down conversion rate.
This is the stupidest day in Bears history, a record that will subsequently be broken by every subsequent day in Bears history.
In vintage Chicago Bears fashion, they deployed a half-measure to solve their recent lifeless woes when they fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday. It’s almost certainly a ploy for head coach Matt Eberflus to try and keep his job as his coaching seat gets hotter by the week because he needed a person to scapegoat. Nonetheless, the Bears haven’t scored a touchdown in two weeks, so someone simply had to go.
The more interesting part of this development is how it concerns the struggling Caleb Williams.
The rookie No. 1 overall pick is now completing roughly just 60 percent of his passes and is averaging a paltry 6.1 yards per pass attempt. His Bears offensive line isn’t blocking well for him, and even when it does, Williams isn’t seeing the field well or putting many passes on target.
Still, it would be silly to bench the franchise’s only hope for the future amid all this chaos … right? Because, you know, as usual, it’s not all his fault.
Well, not according to some anonymous Bears players. Per a report from Marc Silverman of ESPN 1000 in Chicago, some unnamed Bears veterans apparently wanted Williams benched for backup Tyson Bagent before they fired Waldron.
Oh boy. It keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?
After talking to a few people with knowledge of the situation, players went to Matt Eberflus & Ryan Poles asking them to make a change at offensive coordinator. There have also been a few veteran players requesting Bagent starts. https://t.co/h3QSrhZjQ1
