Chicago Bears Coaching Staff Receives Mixed Reviews In Annual NFLPA Report Card

The yearly NFLPA report cards hit the airwaves, and the Bears received some interesting grades across the board. Here's how the grades broke down for Chicago:

CATEGORY	GRADE
Treatment of Families	C+
Home Game Field	C
Food/Dining Area	B
Nutritionist/Dietician	A
Locker Room	B+
Training Room	B
Training Staff	B
Weight Room	A
Strength Coaches	A-
Position Coaches	B-
Offensive Coordinator	A-
Defensive Coordinator	C+
Special Teams Coordinator	B-
Team Travel	B+
Head Coach	A
General Manager	A-
Team Ownership	A-

First off, it's important to mention that these grades, specifically the ones regarding the coaches, GM, or ownership, are largely a popularity contest. However, they're generally a proper representation of how players view each category internally. These grades often provide the most detailed look into each organization.

There are a few noteworthy grades for Chicago, but none are more significant than the ones regarding the coaching staff. For starters, it should come as no surprise that Ben Johnson earned an A. He immediately injected a winning culture into the locker room. The players clearly bought into what he's selling very quickly.

Johnson is also one of 11 coaches to earn at least an A (Sean McVay and Dan Quinn both received an A+) on the report card. He's already one of the league's best coaches.

So much for those 'Sure, he's a great offensive coordinator, but can he be a leader of men' remarks, eh? He's passed that test with flying colors every step of the way.

Declan Doyle receiving an A- is also significant. With Johnson responsible for play-calling and installing the weekly gameplan, his impact was previously somewhat of an unknown. Especially because he was only here for one year. He clearly had a strong connection with the players, though.

New offensive coordinator Press Taylor has a leg up on where Doyle was when he got hired simply because he was here last year (as the team's pass game coordinator), but he has pretty hefty shoes to fill. The players loved Doyle, and he will clearly be missed.

Conversely, Dennis Allen receiving a C+ was definitely one of the more surprising grades. That mark tied for Chicago's second-lowest grade on the board.

Personally, I thought Allen did a great job of making the most of a lousy situation last season. He was expecting to have Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon at his disposal last season. They both missed more than half the season and looked like shells of themselves after returning to the lineup. Starting linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards both landed on IR at certain points this season, too. So did big-ticket free agent defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and second-round pick Shemar Turner.

However, the consensus in the locker room clearly had a different opinion on the matter. That's why the NFLPA allows players to voice their opinion.

Now, is this an indication of Allen being a bad coach? Not at all. As I mentioned before, it's a popularity contest. One that can be easily skewed by a few bad scores. It does mean he rubbed some of the players the wrong way, though. Hard coaching can do that. So can a copious amount of up-downs in practice (which has always been a Dennis Allen calling card), I imagine.

It's also worth noting that the position coaches and special teams coordinator Ian Hightower didn't receive much better grades, with them both grading out with a B-. That's honestly a bit more surprising than Allen receiving a C+, as the Bears' depth showed up time and time again this season. When someone went down, another player stepped up. That would usually translate to the position coaches doing a good job getting them ready to play. While that still might be the case, they clearly ruffled some feathers along the way.

Also, in Hightower's defense, he went to bat for the players at the podium on a weekly basis. I'm honestly more surprised to see him having lukewarm standing inside Halas Hall than I am to see Allen having a few upset customers.

All things considered, the ship is still clearly headed in the right direction inside Halas Hall. They received solid grades overall, and things are mostly looking up. Dennis Allen might just want to lower the frequency of up-downs next year if he wants to improve his standing in the locker room.

With that said, something tells me he's not too worried about the C+.