5 Bears Leaving Chicago in the New Year

4. Gerald Everett - TE

Everett was signed to a 2-year deal worth $12M last offseason and has 8 catches on the year thus far. He has career-lows across the board with 8 receptions, 36 yards and 0 touchdowns. If he does not score in the season finale against the Packers, it will be the first time in his 8-year career that he failed to score at least one touchdown. He has been one of the biggest disappointments in terms of salary on the Bears this season. His signing can definitely be credited to Shane Waldron as he coached him during his days with the Rams. Early in the season it was evident Waldron wanted to get him involved, but it just never got rolling. It's safe to say prime Rob Gronkowski or Tony Gonzalez couldn't get going in this offense, however.

Cole Kmet has seen his targets plummet and usage decrease dramatically from last season. It is already an issue if your starting tight end is not getting touches so it is no surprise that Everett has essentially been nonexistent this year. There is not a bunch of money to be saved if they cut or trade him, but he is basically wasting a roster spot at this point for someone else. It is likely the new coach that comes in will have no ties to Everett and therefore be more willing to let him walk.

Everett does not block well and is not much of a receiving threat at this point in his career so really brings nothing of value to the tight end room. As mentioned earlier, the signing was almost surely Waldron's doing as he had prior experience with him. I cannot see a world where a new coaching staff comes in and has any use of him.

5. The Entire Coaching Staff

It is evident at this point that Thomas Brown will not be the future head coach of the team, but the rest of the staff should be out with him to begin the new year. The first person on that list should be oOffensive Line and Running Game Coach, Chris Morgan. We all know about the injuries to the offensive line and the lack of money invested, but too often this offense looks like a JV team that cannot pick up basic stunts or know who they are supposed to block on basic blitz packages. Morgan survived the firing of Luke Getsy last season, but should be one of the first guys out of the building to bring in the new year.

Eric Washington should be packing his bags as well. Say what you want about Matt Eberflus and his firing was definitely warranted, but the defense has fallen off a cliff since his departure. The defense was regressing already, but has looked like one of the worst in the league since the firing of Eberflus. There are definitely talented pieces on that side of the ball including Jaylon Johnson, Montez Sweat, T.J. Edwards, and Kevin Byard.

Chris Beatty is only a name you know of because he coached Keenan Allen in Los Angeles. He was thrust into the role of Offensive Coordinator once Brown was promoted to interim Head Coach. Richard Hightower is possibly the only name that can survive the firings to come this offseason. He has served as the Special Teams Coordinator since 2022 and for the most part there has not been any glaring issues with the unit outside of a kicker that cannot step on the field for a field goal attempt on anything longer than 53 yards. Should Cairo Santos be slide 6 of this article?

The staff is essentially full of guys that are in positions well over their head, so you cannot truly blame them. The entire season has been a dumpster fire and they will need to simply clean house with a new staff to get this thing turned around.

More Chicago Bears news and analysis: