Sports always elicit the biggest emotions. This past Chicago Bears season was no different.
Marred by a 10-game losing streak, a coaching change and massive offensive struggles, the Bears gave us plenty to react to. But, what did we overreact to?
Here are three things we overreacted to from the 2024 Chicago Bears season.
The Chicago Bears’ head coaching search
The Chicago Bears interviewed well over a dozen candidates for their head coach opening. The Bears also had a handful of people on their search committee.
Some argued there were too many cooks in the kitchen. The argument was there would be too many voices in the room, and it would cloud or harangue the search, which many wanted to be centered around Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
These disagreements grew even louder when the Bears interviewed Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who weren’t seen as legitimate candidates when compared to the likes of Johnson, Pete Carroll, Liam Coen and Mike McCarthy.
Still, the Bears landed Johnson.
After all the overreaction to the process, the Bears landed the hottest coaching candidate in this coaching cycle.
Team ownership can’t make bold decisions
This one is simple.
Plenty believed the Bears would never make an in-season coaching change. That’s never happened before, and the overarching belief was that it wouldn’t happen.
After the Bears’ 23-20 loss to Detroit, team decision makers and ownership decided to make franchise history. Firing Matt Eberflus wasn’t just justified, it was time.
No one ever wants to celebrate someone losing their job, but the Bears needed to make a move as they not only tried to get out of their losing streak, but tried to piece together the future of the franchise with quarterback Caleb Williams leading the way.
To their credit, the Bears’ ownership understood the moment and responded in kind.
They needed to make a move, especially after last-minute blunders led to a third consecutive loss to NFC North rivals.
The coaching change paid off with a last-minute win over the Green Bay Packers. That propelled the Bears into an offseason where the Bears’ ownership followed through with another bold move.
They didn’t just hire Johnson, but the Bears’ brass reportedly gave him a five-year, $65 million contract that averages $13 million per year. They heard the fans.
“Now, all we have to do is what everybody wants,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said on Jan. 22. “That’s win.”
DJ Moore’s commitment
In the middle of the Bears’ 10-game losing streak where the team was clearly and firmly out of the playoff picture, receiver DJ Moore was asked about the work he’d put in during the offseason.
He responded in a very DJ Moore manner.
“What I’m thinking about? Vacation,” Moore said. “Let them do all the work, come back and be ready to go.”
Moore caught some heat for his body language on the sidelines during games when the Bears were mired in their 10-game losing streak and with words about vacation.
That heat turned into questions about how committed he is to being one of the Bears’ top playmakers, especially if he was thinking about vacation with a few weeks still to play in the 2024 season.
Moore got rid of all that talk in January.
When Ben Johnson was hired, Moore was on hand for his introduction alongside Cole Kmet, Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze. To be there, Moore left that family vacation at Disney World, the same vacation he mentioned earlier in the season.
