Bear Digest

What a Weekend Without Football Meant for the Chicago Bears

Many of the potential offensive coordinators who could be head coaching candidates enjoyed big games Sunday as the Bears were off.

Gene Chamberlain

While Caleb Williams' team had the weekend off, he was in Los Angeles Saturday with family to have his USC jersey number retired.
While Caleb Williams' team had the weekend off, he was in Los Angeles Saturday with family to have his USC jersey number retired. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Even weekends without football say something for the Bears, and they say something even after the Bears have fired their head coach.

The scene changes with each game around the 32 teams.

This weekend's games said little about the NFC North because only the Vikings played after the Bears, Packers and Lions played on Thanksgiving.

Of course, the most important issue facing the Bears was impacted by the weekend game.

Here's what a weekend without football said for the Chicago Bears in Week 13.

No. 1 Coaching Candidate 1

Sunday night's Buffalo victory over the San Francisco 49ers displayed the expertise of one potential replacement for Matt Eberflus.

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady didn't get deterred by Buffalo snow.  His ability to handle the weather conditions, to adjust his game plan and attack vertically more with the running game, to use less wide zone blocking and more gap or inside zone, and run fewer wide receiver screens in favor of safe comeback routes or stops was what made for a rout of the Niners.

Brady would need to be able to adjust like this if he was the head coach and play caller on the lakefront because the Bears are not getting a domed stadium built any time soon.

Brady has worked the Bills back into a position where they could make a run at an AFC championship again and he's not doing it with a dominant offensive line like Ben Johnson has, or with the best group of wide receivers like some other coordinators. They lost Stefon Diggs in free agency but still have been effective passing.

2. Coaching Candidate 2

Another potential candidate put his best foot forward in even less hospitable conditions. This was Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. The Eagles went into Baltimore and put it to the Ravens defense by playing the way they wanted.

They were physical, possessed the ball and bullied a team normally associated with bullying people themselves. They only had 118 yards passing but ra for 140 and only 29 of those came from Jalen Hurts.

The win was much easier than it looked in the 24-19 score. The Ravens scored with three seconds left to close the final deficit. That's seven straight wins for Moore's team and the Bears have to sit up and take notice.

3. A Third to Note

Houston's offense under coordinator Bobby Slowik woke up from lethargy and pulled out to a 23-6 lead in the fourth quarter before they held off Jacksonville 23-20. C.J. Stroud threw for 242 yards and a TD and Joe Mixon ran for 101 yards.

After a dead spot in the roster, Slowik's offense has averaged 26.7 points the last four games.

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4. And Don't Forget

Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who interviewed for Bears offensive coordinator last year, has the Buccaneers offense rolling. In the last eight games they have averaged 31.4 points a game and haven't been below 20. Coen's offense had 476 yards on Sunday in a 26-23 win over Carolina.

5. On the Rebound

It's going to be anything but easy for the Bears Sunday going out to San Francisco after they were routed 35-10 in the snow. They could get several players back who had been injured, but the Bears could avoid facing Christian McCaffrey because he went out of the game with a PCL injury and coach Kyle Shananan said he'll possibly be done for the year.

They have other ball carriers to use in a strong running game, but couldn't show it much in the snow. And the Bears' defensive weakness is stopping the run.

The Bears might be the only easy touch left on the 49ers schedule and they'll have their backs against the wall in the NFC West race.

6. Forget the Back Door

There were some rumbles about Caleb Williams getting back into the race for offensive rookie of the year but Jayden Daniels squashed all of that with three touchdown passes to pull ahead of the Bears QB in TD passes by one on the year. The Commanders beat the Titans 42-19.

7. The Bungles

With Matt Eberflus leaving, the Bears no longer have their defensive signal caller and the braintrust behind their strong red zone defense.

Yet, at the same time the Bears offense is starting to rise.

Do they risk becoming like the Bengals, who are giving up over 36 points a game and in last place despite having an explosive offense?

8. Sorry Bears Fans

Russell Wilson is cooking and Justin Fields isn't going to hit the required number of games played by to turn the draft pick from their trade of Justin Fields into a fourth-round pick. It's going to be a sixth-rounder.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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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.