The Chicago Bears officially announced the hiring of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday and in the aftermath of the move, reporting has surfaced over the process that led the Bears to Waldron.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated provided insight into the interviews that the Bears had with potential offensive coordinators and, naturally, the topic of Caleb Williams or Justin Fields came up.
"Of course, the chance, potentially, to coach USC’s Caleb Williams was something mentioned to me as a drawing card by candidates for the job (though Eberflus did defend Justin Fields in the interviews, as I understand it)."Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated
Naturally, the throwaway line from Breer is what is making headlines. "Eberflus defends Justin Fields", case settled, the Bears have their answer at the quarterback position.
Not quite.
Matt Eberflus' defense of Justin Fields likely has no impact on the Chicago Bears' quarterback decision.
Fields is the current starting quarterback of the Bears. The Bears have not made their decision yet with regard to taking Williams with the first overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft or keeping Fields. Therefore, it would be natural for Eberflus to defend Fields in interviews with potential offensive coordinators.
Looking beyond the fact that a defense of Fields keeps the Bears in a position where they hold the leverage in trade talks involving their current quarterback or the first overall selection, it's important that the relationship between the head coach and quarterback is not fractured. Information regarding the Bears' interview process was bound to leak and it's in the team's favor that there were not any internal criticisms of Fields revealed.
Between now and the start of the draft in 2024, Bears fans will want to familiarize themselves with the philosophy of Occam's razor: the simpler solution is often the right solution. Fields has not fully developed through his first three seasons in the NFL. The Bears will need to have better quarterback play if they are going to compete in the NFC North moving forward. Therefore, the solution is to address the quarterback position in the simplest way: taking Williams with the first overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.