If Bears fans think it’s exasperating watching the NFL’s worst offense in terms of yards gained, imagine playing in it.
The players’ growing frustration threatens to erode the confidence they have in the coaching staff and, unlike the Bears’ passing game, that belief goes deep.
“I’m not going to tell y’all much, but I can tell the coaches how I feel and the players how I feel,” running back Anthony Thomas said Wednesday. “The kind of guy I am, I’m trying to keep it in-house and try to figure out what’s going on and move on. I really haven’t spoken up and said anything yet, but it’s getting to that point.”
It confounds Thomas why he had just five carries in the first half of last Sunday’s loss to the Lions and he still hasn’t figured out why offensive coordinator John Shoop chose to question his practice habits after the Chargers’ victory a week earlier. But he is far from the only Bear scratching his head at some recent decisions.
Even diplomatic quarterback Chris Chandler indirectly indicted a game plan against the Lions that included eight passes in the first nine plays.
“To rehash that doesn’t do any good,” Chandler said. “[But] I think we have to run the ball more and better than what we did.”
One player said the Bears never will function like “an NFL offense” until coach Dick Jauron removes the shackles from a passing offense many in the locker room deem overly conservative.
Privately, some Bears commiserate about the confines of a scheme they believe fails to take advantage of the talent that exists on the offense.
Publicly, wide receiver David Terrell felt so dissatisfied with his progress in the offense that he talked Wednesday of resolving his situation in the off-season. Terrell said the coaching staff rides him harder because he was a first-round draft pick and implied he might benefit from a change in scenery.
It wasn’t the first time Terrell has voiced displeasure over the passing game’s paint-by-numbers approach that has resulted in his 28 catches for 181 yards.
To show how meager those numbers are for a receiver billed as a game-breaker, consider Packers running back Najeh Davenport has a higher per-carry average (6.8) than Terrell’s per-catch average (6.5) with five more carries (33) than Terrell has receptions.
“I’m not happy with it,” Terrell said. “[But] when I put the camera on, as long as I’m doing what I’m designed to do, I’m OK.”
His numbers do not back up Terrell’s big talk, but he would argue it’s because he works in an offense that doesn’t give him the chance.
A few lockers away, fellow receiver Marty Booker seemed to echo Terrell’s discontentment without making quite as much noise. Instead, Booker, whose longest catch of the season was a 48-yarder against Oakland that came after he caught a quick slant and ran the rest of the way, sounded like he was following a script as cautiously contrived as the Bears’ game plan.
“We just go out and run what’s called and do what we’re supposed to,” Booker said. “We have no input on the game plan or whatever. I’m just out there to run what’s called. If the ball’s coming to me, I’m happy. I do what I’m told.”
At least the people telling Booker what to do have recognized the most pressing problem confronting the Bears. Whether they can solve it remains to be seen.
Jauron acknowledged the need to open up an offense that hasn’t had more than two touchdown drives in any game this season and hasn’t scored 30 points in a game since last year’s 33-30 loss to New England on Nov. 10. In contrast, the Rams have scored 30 or more points five times already this season.
Overall, the Bears are last in the league in total yards per game (258.1), 31st in passing yards per game (146.8) and 29th in points scored (16.7).
“We just haven’t connected,” Jauron said. “It hasn’t been rhythmic. In the two games we won, I felt like we were progressing, on rhythm.”
Shoop gets blamed for practically everything but long lines at Soldier Field concession stands, and Jauron rarely steps forward to deflect the heat. But he did Wednesday.
Asked how much the offense’s ineffectiveness had to do with plays Shoop called, Jauron made himself accountable.
“It’s hard to put percentages on things, but I’m certainly not saying in any way, shape or fashion that I’m not responsible for it too,” Jauron said. “We just have to perform better and we have to prepare them better.”
On that, Bears players and coaches agree.
“No matter what you do, you’re never going to see eye to eye,” Thomas said. “You just have to go out and execute whatever play’s called.
