For all the talk there was prior to the season that DJ Moore wasn't a "diva" wide receiver, it seems that with each passing week during the 2024 campaign, Moore's actions prove otherwise.
At the center of the latest controversy involving Moore was him seemingly taking himself out of a play that was ongoing during Sunday's loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Moore explained to reporters on Wednesday that he rolled his ankle and didn't think it served a purpose to act as a decoy while Caleb Williams was looking to make a play.
Looking beyond Moore's sideline demeanor, it's safe to say that there hasn't been a strong connection between the veteran wide receiver and rookie quarterback. Many haven taken Moore's struggle to find connection with Williams that he is still upset that the team decided to move on from Justin Fields at the quarterback position.
In talking about his connection with Williams, Moore did invoke Fields' name.
"I couldn't tell you," Moore said. "I mean, just reps? You can say Justin had more reps when I got here than me and Caleb have, just him being a rookie quarterback and Justin wasn't a rookie quarterback last year."
It's a similar sentiment that Moore had last season when he was asked about the team potentially moving on from Fields. Moore forecasted that there would be struggles getting on the same page with a rookie quarterback and perhaps he has allowed that mindset to creep into his actions on the field this season.
But defaulting to Williams being a rookie quarterback is a lazy excuse for Moore. The Bears are in the back half of their 2024 schedule, there isn't a valid excuse for there to still be elementary connection issues between Moore and Williams. That's not to say that the problem is exclusively on Moore but it is another example of how the Bears' offensive coaching staff may not be good at connecting the pieces of the offense.