At this time one year ago, the Chicago Bears had high expectations. They had just taken Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft and added a top young weapon in Rome Odunze. Keenan Allen came in as a veteran presence and Shane Waldron was set to introduce his young quarterback into the NFL.
With a strong defense, the Bears were hoping to compete in the NFC North and push for their first playoff appearance since 2020. But after a 4-2 start, Chicago lost 10 straight games before winning the season finale against the Green Bay Packers.
In the end, last season served as the prelude to Ben Johnson’s arrival from the Detroit Lions. But Johnson’s first OTAs revealed an ugly truth about Matt Eberflus’s staff and how it sabotaged Chicago’s season.
Matt Eberflus Doomed the Bears Before the 2024 Season Began
There were plenty of good things happening on the field during the Bears’ offseason program, but they couldn’t escape the shadow cast by Eberflus’s final season. The hiring of Waldron was just one issue, as the young quarterback questioned his ability after a failed stint with the Seattle Seahawks. Williams’s father, Carl, also wondered if Chicago was the best place for him, telling author Seth Wickersham that it was “the place quarterbacks go to die” for his upcoming book “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback.”
Carl Williams’s comments almost foreshadowed his son’s rookie season as he put up solid stats with 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions. But he was also sacked 68 times behind an offensive line that finished 24th in Pro Football Focus’s final offensive line rankings for last season.
The Bears did their best to solve the problem, trading for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and signing center Drew Dalman in free agency. But it also didn’t eliminate the attitude that was permeating through the facility. When things went wrong, the Bears never fought back, which is something that Johnson made a focal point of OTAs.
“We don’t want to be a ‘palms-up team’ where we’re questioning everything,” Johnson said. “...To me, that’s a little bit of a sign of weakness. We don’t want to exhibit that from anybody on the team.”
“We don’t want to be a palms up team” … especially at QB!!!! https://t.co/2Vim9V9Ju8 pic.twitter.com/yOjJ88pyTz
— Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) May 29, 2025
Some may believe that this was a condemnation of Williams, and based on some of his body language from last season, that may be true. But the fact that Johnson has to call out the team’s attitude before playing a game hints at how bad things were under the previous regime.
It’s an unfortunate reality that plagued the Bears last season, but could be the one change that helps them meet expectations in 2025.