Shane Waldron fired as Bears OC by Matt Eberflus amid Caleb Williams woes | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

After promising changes to evaluate everything following Sunday’s 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots, the Chicago Bears delivered two days later by firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

Waldron missed just 10 games in his first season with head coach Matt Eberflus. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was first to report the firing. Thomas Brown will replace Waldron as offensive coordinator.

Eberflus told reporters on Sunday that he would evaluate “everything from top to bottom” after the Bears lost their third straight game.

While there is no shortage of blame for the team, Waldron and the offensive structure surrounding Caleb Williams are the primary source of criticism.

The Bears have scored fewer than 20 points in five of nine games this season. They have scored a total of 27 points and averaged 230 yards per game during their current three-game losing streak.

Questions arose about Waldron’s job status following a 29-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on November 3, but Eberflus said at the time that no changes would be made to the coaching staff:

“We’re 4-4. At the moment we are there and it is important that we focus on this week. That’s all we can control and put our guys in a better position to be successful as coaches, and that’s ultimately the case. My job and secondly that of the coordinator. So it’s important that we do a great job with the position coaches, working with the players and putting these guys in a position to be successful.

Sunday’s loss to the Patriots was the low point in a disappointing season for the Bears. Williams finished the game 16 of 30 for 120 yards and was sacked nine times by a New England defense that had a total of 16 sacks in the first nine games.

The Bears did Williams a disservice in some ways by sticking with Eberflus as head coach rather than embarking on a complete reboot after last season.

The argument for keeping Eberflus despite its second straight losing record was that Chicago’s defense had played well at the end of last season, helping the team to a 5-3 mark in its last eight games. It often goes unmentioned that three of those five wins came in games in which Bryce Young, Joshua Dobbs and Taylor Heinicke started at quarterback for opposing teams.

Now Eberflus is in job security mode and trying to avoid a third straight losing season. Williams will have to work with a new offensive coordinator during his rookie season, with the possibility of a third by 2025 if the Bears make a head coaching change after this year.

Waldron was hired as Chicago’s offensive coordinator in January after previously spending three years in the same role with the Seattle Seahawks under head coach Pete Carroll.

The Bears currently rank 24th in points per game (19.4), 30th in yards per game (277.7) and 30th in passing yards per game (169.6) . They are just two games behind the Green Bay Packers for the final playoff spot in the NFC heading into Sunday’s showdown between the division rivals at Soldier Field.