The Chicago Bears have had a drama-filled and disappointing start to the 2023 season. Firstly, they head into Week 4 against the Denver Broncos at 0-3 on the season and sporting a 13-game losing streak. Secondly, quarterback Justin Fields has struggled big time out of the gate. And in what was a shock this past week, defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned after just 18 games into that role.
It’s not yet known where the Bears are going to go from here. Head coach Matt Eberflus has lost 17 of 20 games in that role. General manager Ryan Poles is under constant scrutiny for building one of the weakest rosters in the NFL.
All of this is happening roughly nine months after former Big 10 Commissioner Kevin Warren took over for Ted Phillips as Chicago’s president back in January.
According to this note from Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post, this is leading to increased chatter that Warren just might blow up the entire operation in the Windy City.
“There is a growing suspicion that team president Kevin Warren has seen enough to realize another reboot is in order,” report on Chicago Bears situation.
In his second season as the Bears’ general manager, it’s hard to fathom the team moving off Poles. But the dysfunction in Chicago might lead to Warren making the drastic decision to completely clean house at some point in the not-so-distant future.
“Kevin has seen enough to clean it out,” one unnamed general manager told La Canfora. “It’s my understanding that he has the power to do it, and the coach and GM can’t go around him to ownership.”
Traditionally, the McCaskey family-led ownership group has pushed back against eating salaries by firing head coaches and general managers so early in their tenures. This apparently isn’t the case with the current iteration of the organization now seen as a laughingstock around the NFL.
Related: Why it’s time for the Chicago Bears to clean house from GM to QB Justin Fields
Justin Fields’ struggles and what it means for the Chicago Bears
It must be noted that Poles did not make the decision to trade up for Fields in the 2021 NFL Draft. Instead, that honor went to then-general manager Ryan Pace.
Even then, the struggles we’ve seen from this young quarterback doesn’t paint Poles in the best of lights. One of Poles’ first decisions as GM was to hire the defensive-minded Matt Eberflus as the Bears’ head coach ahead of the 2022 season.
There is a growing belief that mismanagement from the Bears’ coaching staff has led to Fields struggling so much through his first two-plus NFL seasons. Thus far this year, the quarterback has thrown three touchdowns with five giveaways in three games. He even took aim at the Bears’ coaching staff ahead of last week’s blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
All of this comes amid a more-recent report suggesting that Chicago’s brass is not sold on Fields as its solution at quarterback.
“Justin Fields still has a ways to go to convince the Bears he is their quarterback of the future, and that’s the reason they went out and got another No. 1 pick for this year’s draft,” NFL insider Jay Glazer on the Bears and Fields.
Chicago traded down from the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft with the Carolina Panthers, pickin up a first-rounder in the 2024 NFL Draft. With next year’s class absolutely loaded at quarterback and Chicago likely to have two picks within the top-10 selections, Fields’ future is obviously up in the air.
The question here is whether Kevin Warren believes that Poles and Eberflus should be making the decisions given the disaster we’re seeing in Chicago right now.
“This was always doomed,” an unnamed executive said.