Eberflus on firing Waldron, releasing Davis, Brisker still out |
CHICAGO—Firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was not the only move the Bears made this week to improve their offense. They also decided to let go of guard Nate Davis and elevate offensive lineman Jake Curhan to take Davis’ roster spot.
With that additional move and some players trending in the right direction, head coach Matt Eberflus is feeling better about the situation at the offensive line. “We released Nate Davis (Wednesday). We just felt it was best for him and for the organization, for the team right now to do that,” Eberflus said. “Jake Curhan moved to the active roster for us today as well, and it’s good to have (offensive lineman) Braxton Jones back at practice, (offensive lineman Darnell) Wright back at practice which is good, then (Darrell Taylor) our pass rusher, good to have him back there working in a limited fashion (Wednesday), solidify some of our lines going forward.” Jones, Wright, and Taylor were all limited in practice Wednesday with knee injuries, as was linebacker Noah Sewell. That is about all the good news coming from the injury report. Five players, including two offensive linemen and two cornerbacks, did not participate in practice on Wednesday. “(Safety) Jaquan Brisker will still be out for this week. He’s still going through the concussion protocol there and working through with the trainers. We’ll see where that goes in terms of week-to-week. (Offensive lineman) Teven Jenkins (was) out today for practice. We’ll see where that goes with the ankle. (Cornerback Tavarious Moore) is in concussion protocol, working through there. We’ll see where that goes as well. (Montez Sweat was) out with an ankle for practice (Wednesday).” Brisker has not played in a game since Oct. 6 when the Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers. Missing Chicago’s game against the Green Bay Packers this Sunday (Noon / FOX) will be the fifth game in a row he has missed. Before this season, Brisker had only missed four games although he did miss time due to a concussion in both 2022 and 2023. Perhaps the Bears should be concerned about his ability to return to football, as this is his third concussion since joining the NFL. No player has missed more time this season because of a concussion, even Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who contemplated retirement because of his concussion history. Having Brisker available is more a big-picture question, but the hottest topic in Chicago is passing game coordinator Thomas Brown becoming the interim offensive coordinator for the rest of the season now that the Bears have let go of Waldron. Brown has previously served as an offensive coordinator in Division I college football and the NFL. “(We) released Shane Waldron. I just want to thank him for his hard work and dedication through the whole process there. But, I thought it was best for the Bears and for the team at this point to move on from Shane as a play caller and then working into Thomas, met with him yesterday and very excited about him being the play caller and the offensive coordinator, our leader of our offense going forward for the rest of the season and brings passion, energy, tenacity, toughness, collaboration,” Eberflus said. “We could certainly see that yesterday during the game planning phase of using all the minds and everybody there. I thought that was excellent to see with those guys working together to get to the best answers for our first and second down game plan and our third down, working into today. But, (I’m) really excited about that decision.” This may be the end of the major changes to the offense for the rest of this season. However, Eberflus left the door open for one other major change - a change at quarterback. Rookie Caleb Williams has struggled the past few weeks. Per SportsCenter, during Chicago’s three-game losing streak, his completion percentage is 51 percent and he has only thrown 468 passing yards while being sacked 18 times. While Eberflus said Williams has done well, he stated everything is “week-to-week” when asked if Williams would remain the starter for the remainder of this season. “In terms of what he’s done well, he’s done a lot of things well in terms of (the) in-breakers, the rhythm and timing throws have (been) done well. But, he needs to do it more consistent … The things he needs to improve on is (being) that consistent quarterback with his reads … That’s been there, we just need to be more consistent,” Eberflus said. “We’re looking at everything week-to-week. You always do that, what’s best for the football team. We made a big decision last week and I think (you) always have to evaluate that - the things you did well, the things you need to improve on, where’s your football team at and where you need to go the very next week.”
