The Chicago Bears, as a team, feel like a lost cause. However, in an 0-3 season, the team still has things to play for when it comes to the future, and of course, it is too early to mathematically eliminate the team, although their playoff odds are so slim.
So, who are the players on the roster that are a lost cause? Who are the players that really will have a hard time turning anything around and changing the perception of who they are in the eyes of the Chicago Bears?
5. The Chicago Bears need to admit Velus Jones is a bust
There is nothing that Velus Jones can do to change the idea that he is officially a bust. What stings is that so many fans saw this one coming. He was not a great prospect, and he turned into a bad pro. Three games into his second year, and he is on pace to be worse than his rookie season.
Considering his rookie year was a disaster, you have to be impressed that Jones is pulling this off. He was inactive for week one, played four snaps in week one, and stuck to just special teams in week three.
In one of the first snaps he was on the field, the Bears tried to design a play for him, but it was like a red alert that he was only in to get the ball, so the play was blown up for a loss.
Velus Jones does not bring anything. He does not run routes and has to be schemed the ball. He does not return punts. Jones only returns kicks, and those are getting taken out of the game with more touchbacks than ever. He might as well be inactive for Equanimeous St. Brown, and Tyler Scott should take any of his offensive snaps.
4. The Chicago Bears whiffed on Lucas Patrick
Lucas Patrick is representative of everything the Chicago Bears have done poorly. Ryan Poles only signed him because he was familiar with Luke Getsy, and he wanted to bring in his offense. However, Patrick was a depth name who started due to injury the year before he signed.
This is like Poles signing Byron Pringle and Matt Eberflus signing Al-Quadin Muhammad. When you sign guys you like, you get results like this. Patrick has the excuse that he was hurt last year, while those two faltered. Still, Poles had to know not to trust him and try to upgrade. At the least, he needed to add depth since Patrick was hurt multiple times last year.
Patrick was hurt again this preseason, and the team needed him. He has been a major letdown so far this year as he shakes off the rust. There is just nothing to get excited about when you know that Patrick is starting.
What will be interesting to see is what happens if and when Teven Jenkins comes back. Does Cody Whitehair push Patrick back to depth as he moves into center? Do they bench Whitehair, who has been a disappointment as well? Either way, there are just a few more games with Patrick playing this year. Then, next year, center will be a major need, even though everyone thought they would take care of that this offseason.
3. Justin Fields is not the answer for the Chicago Bears
This season was make-or-break for Justin Fields. It is easy to say that Luke Getsy is once again limiting Fields by forcing him to do what he is not good at. Also, the additions Ryan Poles made have hardly come through. At the same time, Fields has not gotten better.
Anytime D.J. Moore gets a chance, he makes a play, and Darnell Wright is better than any Bears lineman last year. It is not great, but it is better. Beyond that, Getsy cannot just call the run and around and make a play call, it is not really in the sheet like that.
So, the reality is that everything is coming together for a bad team. Justin Fields has time to start the rest of the season. The Chicago Bears will not turn to Nate Peterman, and Tyson Bagent is still deemed too raw as a project player. There are things Fields can show to himself, the Bears, and the rest of the NFL.
At the same time, there is so much hope and not enough realistic ability when projecting this growth for Justin Fields. This will be his last season with the Chicago Bears.
2. The Chicago Bears should trade Yannick Ngakoue
Yannick Ngakoue has watched this story play out before. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings back in 2020. The Vikings got off to a slow start, and the team realized they were not making a run, so they traded Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens. It was a good way to cut their losses.
The same could happen this season. Ngakoue is not a lost cause as a pass rusher, and a contender could use him to put them over the edge. However, for the Chicago Bears, he brings nothing. He does not have the juice to make other players on the line better. He also misses too many tackles and has been an issue in run defense.
If the Bears had better pieces around him, he would excel, and so would they. The fit is not right, and the timing is not, either. Ngakoue is a free agent after this year, and he is going to leave. The Bears need to spend money in free agency so they will not get a compensatory pick. The Bears need to trade Ngakoue now and at least get something out of that signing.
1. The Chicago Bears can admit defeat on Chase Claypool
The Chicago Bears have to call it quits on Chase Claypool. He has been nothing close to what they signed up for. Some of it is on the coaches. They are asking him to block a lot and be an upgrade over Equanimeous St. Brown, but the two have differing strengths and weaknesses. Benching Velus Jones, asking St. Brown to do the Claypool role, and then using Claypool as a gadget type of player may be the best way to go moving forward.
However, for Claypool with the Chicago Bears, there is nothing here moving forward. He had the excuse of not knowing the playbook last year, and this year, he missed all of the offseason with minor injuries. Then, he showed up and played uninspired in week one. His blocking improved, only in that it is not highlight-level bad.
The only reason he has been active for the last two weeks it the Bears spent such a high draft pick on him. They have to admit defeat and try to play Tyler Scott and St. Brown over him. They can work in Claypool at times.