The Chicago Bears had high hopes entering this season, but Year 1 of the Caleb Williams era has actually been a step backward for the Bears’ offense. What changes are up next in Chicago, and who is to blame for the team’s struggles?
What Went Wrong for the Bears?
In 2017, the Bears selected QB Mitchell Trubisky out of North Carolina, which was considered a questionable pick at the time and only looks worse now.
What makes the selection even worse is that three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes “wholeheartedly thought” he was going to be a Bear.
While nobody can say that they predicted Mahomes would be this dominant, the Bears were determined to end up with Trubisky and had Mahomes as a backup plan.
Fast forward to the 2024 NFL Draft, and the Bears thought they could finally move past this and draft the quarterback who would take them to the next level.
To try and make the transition easier for the No. 1 pick Williams, the Bears traded for veteran WR Keenan Allen and drafted WR Rome Odunze from Washington to put alongside WR DJ Moore and TE Cole Kmet.
Allen is a six-time Pro Bowler and 1,000-yard receiver, and he has developed a nice connection with Williams. Odunze was a consensus All-American in his final season at Washington, and the Huskies were the runner-up for the national championship in 2023 before he was selected No. 9 overall.
Despite the stockpiling of talent, the Bears’ offense has dropped from 20th to 31st in the league in yards gained, and from 18th to 26th in points. The offense doesn’t deserve all of the blame, as the defense has also tumbled from 12th to 26th in the league in yards allowed (but improved in points allowed from 20th to 13th).
While it is easy to say that the Bears should have selected Mahomes with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Chicago is trying to turn things around while playing in arguably the NFL’s toughest division.
WWE Legend CM Punk Blames Bears Ownership
Despite making moves to try and improve the team this season, ownership has been under fire for years now. That’s who WWE legend CM Punk is blaming, as he shared prior to the NFL doubleheader on Netflix on Wednesday afternoon.
Well see if CM Punk gets anymore sideline passes at Soldier Field. 😂
Good for him. Say it louder. pic.twitter.com/U0J1ZA04Sm
— Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) December 25, 2024
Does he have a point?
He expressed frustration with the Bears’ current ownership group and brought up the fact that the franchise passed on Mahomes in the draft.
CM Punk is a WWE star and a passionate Bears fan. He is a three-time world champion who has a ton of fans in the wrestling world. He also held his championship belt for 443 days, the longest reign in WWE history.
There are no current plans for the McCaskeys to sell the team, as Punk desires, but there are talks of a new stadium and upgraded facilities being built.