The Chicago Bears went into Arrow Stadium looking for something positive after a hectic week at Halas Hall. However, they left Kansas City with more questions than answers after a 41-10 blowout at the hands of the Chiefs.
670 The Score’s David Haugh and Dan Wiederer of Audacy’s original podcast “Take The North” questioned if the Bears’ culture is more of an issue than their on-field problems.
“When you have this many problems on the field and you’re non-competitive, and then you have a regime that’s preaching culture in the front office and in the coaches’ offices, and then you have an assistant leave the way Alan Williams left and it’s because of inappropriate behavior, it makes it very difficult,” Haugh said (20:15 in player above). “Especially – much lesser, I’m not equating the two – but also in a week where you had some public hubbub about how your players are dealing with responsibility or accountability. That’s all related to the culture.
“It’s a big umbrella but you can’t be the coach that gets blown out every Sunday and say ‘Everything’s going to be OK because the culture we brought to this organization’ when that culture smells. And it’s not real strong right now. So that’s what I think may end up being as big of a problem, potentially, as the stuff on the field.”
The Bears entered the season with some hope and optimism. That has been stripped away after three embarrassing losses. What’s worse is that the off-field issues could be the reason behind it all.
“That’s a very significant sentiment that you just expressed there and by the same token,” Wiederer replied, “You can’t also talk for months about how you’ve established this foundational floor in 2022 and ‘Despite the 14 losses we’ve got it all together,’ and then three games into the next season you’re like ‘Well, we got too many new players and we’re still trying to create our chemistry and build our identity because it’s all new. It’s all new.’
“It’s not new! We’re 20 games in. You’re 3-17. You haven’t really shown the ability to develop a single coach or player on the staff. No one really knows what the strength of your entire operation is. I can’t believe that it’s September 24th and that we have 14 more games.”
Haugh wondered if he was overstating the potential culture issues, but he nailed it on the head.
“No, not at all. Not even a little bit,” Wiederer reiterated. “I think it’s a significant sentiment.”
The Bears return home on Sunday for a matchup against the Broncos.