Another sign points to the coaching staff losing the Chicago Bears locker room
More disconnect within the Chicago Bears oranization
Last week on 670 the Score, Jaylon Johnson had this to say after everyone was alarmed by the comments by Justin Fields. :
"We are all in this together. Granted of course there is ways to go about it, but there is nothing wrong with players calling out coaches. Coaches call players out every day. It is part of their job. I think on the contrary to that, there has to be some accountability by the coaches. "
- Jaylon Johnson, Chicago Bears CB
Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you that Johnson was calling out the coaches. That isn't what he was doing. Instead, he was just saying that he believes if a coach is going to be allowed to say that players need to execute better, then players should be able to also hold their coaches to the same standards.
On with @DannyParkins, Jaylon Johnson shared an in-depth answer about how no one associated with the Bears is exempt from criticism and what that means for players when assessing coaching decisions and schemes.
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) September 25, 2023
Listen to Johnson's full thoughts here: https://t.co/hLUEXURY05 pic.twitter.com/exTyKPrszR
We have two more instances though. This one did not come from a player, but it came from the general manager of the team. I'm not sure if anyone caught enough of it to make a big deal out of it and the comment did not show that Ryan Poles no longer believes in Matt Eberflus and the decisions he is making as the head coach of the football team. However, it does show at least a slight disconnect between the gerneral manager and his coach.
"I feel good about this roster on paper. It’s got to gel, it’s got to work together. It doesn’t happen overnight. Would you like it to? Absolutely. I wish the preseason was cleaner where everyone was going with a ton of reps. It didn’t happen that way. We had to adjust. "
- Ryan Poles, Chicago Bears GM
When I read this, it sounds to me as though Poles thinks the players should have had more reps in the preseason. Maybe he thinks that the "we are so close" comments wouldn't be happening if the team played more leading up to the regular season. I know I wasn't happy seeing guys like Darnell Wright limited to only seven snaps in the preseason. He's a rookie and thank goodness it doesn't seem to have affected him. Now, it's also possible that Poles was referring to the idea that many of the starters were unable to play in the preseason due to injuries. Either way, there's a little disconnect here.