Bear Digest

Five New Year's Resolutions for the Bears to Adopt

Analysis: The Bears could make their quarterback search and life easier in general for themselves simply by making these five resolutions and sticking to them.

Gene Chamberlain

Ben Johnson's production as a play caller and designer of his own offense make him the best choice to be Bears head coach.
Ben Johnson's production as a play caller and designer of his own offense make him the best choice to be Bears head coach. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The new year is a traditional time to reflect on how to make life better with changes.

They call these new year's resolutions.

The Bears could benefit as a franchise by making some of these and then sticking to them.

1. Do the Obvious Thing

Since they've already ignored Dave Toub too many times, the right thing in their coach hiring is Ben Johnson.

He will want more money than others because he's the most-sought candidate. He will want some assurances about his input in the personnel aspect of it. The cook doesn't want someone else buying the ingredients without at least providing his shopping list.

Doing the tricky thing or the cheap thing or the almost right thing doesn't work. Too often in the past in coach signings or free agent signings, they've decided the right thing won't work because of price or some other weak reason and then tried to put a positive spin on the entire thing. Oh, they wound up with the real right guy for their job. The other guy wasn't right for some unique reason.

In this case, they need to do the obvious right thing. They might want to try this more often when it comes to other decisions.

2. Be More Open to Change

This does also apply to the coaching search but not entirely.

Too often in a hiring process an ideal candidate might send hairs standing on end at Halas Hall by telling them how it's going to be. He might offend someone or ignore someone or trigger confrontation with a more forceful attitude.

They don't like this.

In their minds, everything exists in a peachy world where everyone gets along and everyone has input and they all decide things together in lock step.

They like words such as collaborate and input and unison and we, not I or me when it comes to decisions. To be fair, this isn't unique to the Bears now or in the past. It was under Jerry Angelo when we first heard someone was a "Bears decision" or "Bears pick." Let's give credit where it's due and responsibility, too.

The difficult thing for the Bears will be to hire someone as coach, put him in charge of the football team and leave him alone to do what he does best.

If he wants a particular player on draft day, it's up to Ryan Poles to go draft the guy. If the coach wants a free agent, go sign him instead of organizing committees and subcommittees to study the feasibility before deciding to accept the third best player at the position because the top guy wanted too much or was taking a lot of time deciding.

This doesn't mean the coach would run the organization, but he is running the team and needs things. He doesn't need kumbaya hand-holding and groups casting votes on how to proceed with anything.

This is why it might even be best to cut ties entirely with Poles now and let the new coach pick the GM. Then he tells the GM how it's going to be.

Ultimately they would both answer to Kevin Warren, so what's the difference if it's the GM or a head coach who is in charge of the football operation? In fact, maybe the difficult and right thing to do is go to a player personnel director and a contract negotiator/cap specialist answering to the head coach. If they would have been doing this in 2004 then they might have had Nick Saban as their head coach, although they didn't exactly struggle under Lovie Smith.

Another example of being open to change: The Bears have always been a defensive-dominated franchise. Maybe start thinking like a passing team and what helps the passing game more.

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With in-game strategy, think about how you can best score points rather than how you might put your defense in a difficult situation with a failed gamble.

In other words, behave like Dan Campbell.

This comes with an asterisk. You can't just lose all sense of risk and gamble every time. There's a time and place for everything. Example of a bad gamble: Fourth down in your end of the field against the Packers in the 2023 opener and you're going for it on your first drive of the season. Of course it failed and of course they went on to get blown out.

3. Admit to and Correct Faults

Too often a GM or coach decides on signing or drafting a player and then it doesn't work out. They keep the guy around, hoping things will change. Keep sitting on the egg and hoping it will eventually hatch.

The thing is, it won't. If it's a dud, it's a dud.

Examples?

After 2022 it was apparent Velus Jones Jr. couldn't play. He was still here in training camp this year and they were trying to change his position. It didn't help. In the meantime, a player like Tyler Scott has less field time than as a rookie when he might actually develop.

It will be three seasons of edge rusher Dominique Robinson now. If he had shown more ability to produce sacks, then there would be a reason for keeping him around. He's been inactive 17 times the last two seasons after being in every game as a rookie. Wouldn't it be better to have someone occupying the roster spot who has a better chance to produce sacks? Of course it would.

Why was Nate Davis still on the team this year when it was obvious last year he was living down to a reported past reputation for not working hard?

The salary cap is a convenient excuse for inactivity. Cutting someone might cause too big of a cap hit. This can happen, it's true.

In the future, maybe they should allow for more room to absorb in-season cap hits so they can just get rid of similar failed projects.

In the future, this might even mean a GM admitting he messed up by drafting the quarterback.

It might not, but if it does, for the benefit of everyone they need people to be more honest, admit to mistakes and correct them as soon as mistakes are apparent.

4. Strive for Good Health

Injuries can't be avoided. They happen.

What can be avoided is drafting or signing players with injury histories.

Why do you draft a third-round rookie tackle out of a Division I sub-class at Yale in Round 3 when he is, has been, and is going to be injured? Kiran Amegadjie had to try to come in and play without a training camp, offseason or preseason as the basis for his NFL career. He was going to be injured going into camp and still when the season began, and they knew this. Or at least they should have.

They put QB Caleb Williams in jeopardy with blind-side blocker who hadn't properly prepared for this season or, essentially, his NFL career. They could have drafted someone else later and used the pick for some other position.

Teven Jenkins had a back injury history when they drafted him. He's had nothing but injuries and has missed 22 games in four years and never has missed less than two games. If you're signing someone to a contract extension and they can't get on the field, it better be a team-friendly extension.

5. Be Prepared for the Unexpected

You never know when a season-ending injury or long-term injury is going to happen and it's always better to have a backup with experience rather than one who is a project so that you give yourself a better chance to win if something terrible happens.

For instance, why do the Bears have to be the team that starts the season with the backup quarterback from D-II who had four starts as a rookie, then none this year?

What's wrong with having a proven veteran backup QB who might have extensive starting experience and is ready to come in if something happens to Caleb Williams, other than it costs a little more?

Big deal, you're paying bargain rate for a starting quarterback, anyway.

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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.