As the losses and frustrations have mounted through a six-game losing streak, stress fractures have begun to develop at multiple levels of the beleaguered Bears.
Players are unhappy with coaches. Players are unhappy with players. Players are unhappy with players who complain about coaches. The front office is unhappy about the way some of the players are being used. The coaching staff isn’t happy with some of the players the personnel department brought in.
“I’m frustrated right now,” one veteran said, summing up the mood after Sunday’s 19-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles dropped the Bears to 2-6. “I might say the wrong thing.”
Personnel officials are not pleased that linebacker Mike Caldwell, brought in from the Philadelphia Eagles, started in place of injured Warrick Holdman then was benched in favor of Bobbie Howard. Personnel was also not happy that defensive tackle Alfonso Boone, who was given a contract extension before the season and started when Ted Washington was hurt, was later dropped behind Christian Peter on the depth chart.
Defensive end Keith McKenzie, who went from being a starter to being cut in two weeks, is the poster boy for backups who did not work out, although no one associated with the team envisioned needing so many backups to play at the same time.
When players have complained, others have pointedly told them to take care of their own problems before venting on those of others. That theme has sounded on both offense and defense.
For the most part the Bears have avoided finger-pointing, but none disagree that losing exacerbates the potential for it. And it has happened in the recent past, with players incensed at quarterback Cade McNown’s lack of preparation in late 2000, for example.
There were reports of players being particularly upset with offensive coordinator John Shoop after Sunday’s loss, something that happened even in last year’s 13-3 season.
Coach Dick Jauron said he was not aware of problems on the sidelines or in the locker room Sunday, but he acknowledged that tensions are liable to boil over in an intensely competitive situation.
“What happens on the sidelines happens between a very close group of people,” Jauron said. “The way those things get out is unfortunate. It’s part of our game that there are so many people down there listening. I guarantee you there’s lots of things said on the sideline during the course of the game that you wouldn’t want people to hear. And they’re not all complaints. A lot of them aren’t complaints at all, but you wouldn’t want them out in the public.”
Wide receiver Marcus Robinson said many sideline exchanges are heat-of-the-moment matters, quickly forgotten.
“People get emotional sometimes,” he said. “It’s all part of the game. That’s what happens on the sidelines and it happens on all teams. People get frustrated and yell this or yell that, but the next day you just move on and five minutes later you might see me talking to the same guy.”
The Bears amassed 207 yards and 13 points in Sunday’s first half, then had their worst second half of the year in losing to the Eagles. The offense was held to 53 yards in the second half, 42 of it coming on the final drive.
But Robinson and others said there was no criticism of the play-calling or of Shoop, the chief target of public wrath after the Bears’ stumbles.
“As players, we have our opinions,” Robinson said. “We’re out there playing and we think certain things could happen or there are certain plays that should be called. But the bottom line is that you can come back and approach a coach and tell him, `I see this, this and this.’ It’s up to him to call it. You can yell, fuss and cuss, whatever you want to, but it’s still up to the coach.”
