Bear Digest

Bears View Themselves Within Striking Distance of NFC North Powers

The coaching hire and offseason can quickly vault the Bears back near the top of their division if a few things are added to the mix, say players and coach Thomas Brown.

Gene Chamberlain

Bears Darrell Taylor and Jake Martin clean out their lockers at Halas Hall after the season ends.
Bears Darrell Taylor and Jake Martin clean out their lockers at Halas Hall after the season ends. / Gene Chamberlain Photo / Chicago Bears On SI
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It might sound strange coming from a 5-12 team but the Bears remain convinced they are not that far from being competitive in the difficult NFC North.

Perhaps the win over the Green Bay Packers Sunday influenced this up-beat feeling but they saw the team becoming a force quickly under a new coaching staff or with a reorganized staff under head coach candidate Thomas Brown.

"I think we have the roster," defensive end DeMarcus Walker said. "Obviously, you know, to lose four close games to teams that's all going to the playoffs, that shows that the talent is here."

The Bears lost to each NFC North playoff team in a tight game and also on the Hail Mary pass against Washington and all will still be playing in the next few weeks.


The coaching hire is the key to everything.

"Obviously just having the glue to put everything together to push the details ... but to, obviously, to get the best out of the everyone, to find the right person to get the best out of everybody," Walker added. "I feel like the outside world knows what we're capable of, so any coach that comes in knows that to where you're getting a talented team.

"Being a disciplined, detailed, tenacious team is something that we need to do to surpass going home early and being able to play playoff football."

The coaching hire will be the key point in finding someone who can fix the league's last-ranked offense, whether it's a defensive-side hire or a play caller.

"The whole offense as the whole year got through, we just had to start faster,” guard Teven Jenkins said.

It's up in the air whether Jenkins, a free agent, will be a part of it all. He labeled it a "toss up" whether he re-signs with the team. If they lose him, an offensive line in disarray much of the time will have that much more to address.

The obvious problem all year was their offense starting slowly. They became the first team in NFL history to trail first in 15 games. They saw what happens when they reversed this in the 24-22 win over the Packers to end a 10-game losing streak.

The slow starts could be expected to some extent initially with a rookie quarterback but they continued.

"Regardless of who the quarterback is, I believe a lot of the fault comes down to the O-line," guard Matt Pryor said. "Obviously a handful of them sacks are obviously on us but I think toward the end of the season we kind f took a little more control over it and kind of settled down."

Just one sack allowed on Sunday definitely made a difference.

"He's a young quarterback," Pryor said. "Obviously he's gonna adjust. There's gonna be mistakes. So it's kinda, I don't even know how to put it—it's kinda on both of us. You can't just blame him. From the outside-in it's gonna look like it's one person's fault."

The need for accountability remained a theme all the players talked about. They want to see a coach next year who demands more from them.

Interim coach Thomas Brown thinks this needs to be pervasive and not merely a quality of the next head coach.

"But everybody in the building has to operate with the mentality of, 'my job is important. I've got to be excellent every single day for this whole thing to function the right way,' " Brown said. "So, from how you deal with everybody, in the cafeteria to the janitorial service, everybody has to have the mentality of winning and being excellent and being held to that same standard."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.