Shane Waldron didn’t provide any clues as to what the Bears will do in 2024
Thursday marked the first media session for the Bears’ new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Waldron answered many media questions about his hiring process as vaguely as he could. This was in an attempt to avoid showing the Bears’ hand early.
Waldron answered questions for around 20 minutes but spoke in generalities and refused to get into specifics on the quarterback decision that general manager Ryan Poles has ahead of him.
Important points from Waldron’s press conference
When asked about his early evaluation of Fields, Shane Waldron deflected.
“For him, talking about individual evaluations, it’s been much more, build a staff, build our base of what we’re going to do,” Waldron said.
“We’ve started to get into our personnel. We started to really meet with the scouts and having that full evaluation of what our roster looks like. And so then moving forward over the next several weeks will allow us to start to make some decisions not just at that spot but at all the spots because obviously free agency is right in front of us right now.
Being able to put all of those things together is all part of the process, but for us, too, there’s that process of having a foundation as coaches and knowing what we want to be and how we want to present this so that when we do start talking about the players, how are they fitting in everything that we’re looking to do?” – Shane Waldron
This is as non-answer as you can get to a question. Which is a good thing. Shane Waldron was not intimidated by the Chicago media. He did not slip up, and he provided no details. At this point in the season that is a great thing. Never let the opponents know your next move.
Then Waldron was asked about the presumed number one overall pick, Caleb Williams. To which Waldron professionally danced around the question.
“From afar, mainly my impression of a lot of these quarterbacks, all the college quarterbacks was, what an unbelievable college season we just came off of with these guys making some of these dynamic plays down the stretch, whether it was leading into the championship games or the bowl games leading up to that, the regular season, obviously for me being out on the west coast, getting a little bit more exposure to the Pac-12 — I guess the Pac-12’s still last year as the thing evolves every day in my mind,” Waldron said.
“So just in terms of that, it’s been more generalities, seeing all these guys perform at a high level under the national spotlight. Especially there’s multiple quarterbacks that have already performed on the highest stage, in big games and obviously he’s one of them. I’m excited when we start this afternoon with some of our draft process, then the Combine kicks off, to me that’s the chance to really dive into this and get going.” – Shane Waldron
All this confirms is that Shane Waldron paid attention to the Pac-12 this last season. Meaning he has likely watched Caleb Williams play. We won’t know what Waldron really thinks of Williams. Unless the Bears draft the USC quarterback, then Waldron will discuss Williams.
Why Waldron chose Chicago
Shane Waldron then talked about his hiring process and why he chose the Bears out of all the teams that interviewed him. One big reason was the Bears draft capital.
“Having a unique scenario like this where you have the first pick and the ninth pick in the draft, to get a chance to be a part of an organization as storied as this one is, I think all of those things go into it,” Waldron said.
“And like I said, when the season ends, every season is its own entity. You’re not saying I’m anticipating what’s about to happen, and next thing you know, here you go, you’re in the interview process.
Like I said, it just felt very comfortable very quickly with meeting those guys and then obviously having that piece of the draft puzzle where you get a chance to evaluate so many top players around the college game with those two high picks, made it totally appealing.” – Shane Waldron
Shane Waldron then went on to say the two interviews he had with Ryan Poles, Matt Eferflus and the rest of the Bears decision makers, revolved around how he would utilize the Bears personnel and build an offense around Justin Fields OR Caleb Williams.
“Just from a player’s standpoint in general, a lot of the conversation on offense revolved around adaptability. What can you do with different pieces of the puzzle depending on each year? Each year in this league is going to be its own individual year.
I think priding ourselves on having an offensive system, a group of coaches that can adapt and adjust the scheme to a player’s skillset. It’s our job first to be great teachers and second to put guys in the right position and best position for their own individual success, to lead to our team’s success.
A lot of our conversation revolved around not just the quarterback position — that’s the starting point on offense. But how does that look for every position as a team, and as teams adapt each year and players adapt each year?” – Shane Waldron
The Bears discussions were largely focused on Shane Waldron’s creativity and adaptability as a coordinator. Which is a good sign, the Bears have often gone for the safe hire, the one that doesn’t ruffle any feathers. So far it seems like they have done their due diligence with Waldron and hired a modern and creative coordinator. Waldron has the weight of Bears football on his shoulders. Fans are craving for a consistent offense, which hasn’t been seen in quite some time.
The Bears are in such a powerful position heading into the 2024 NFL draft. Having two top 10 draft picks puts the Bears in the driver seat of the first round. The Bears have the power to dictate how the first round plays out. They have the chance to take two highly touted elite prospects. When 10 teams only get the chance to draft one.
Waldron did a great job at hiding his hand by giving non-answers to the media. His focus on broad generalities shows that Waldron is up to the task of building an offense from the ground up. Waldron has proven he has what it takes on the podium, now time to see if he can live up to the hype with his on field product.
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