Playoffs Show Bears There's More Work to Do

Just like every weekend when NFL games are played in the regular season, you learn something about your team.

They don't even need to be playing, and obviously the Bears weren't on the weekend which has now been dubbed Super Wild Card Weekend, as opposed to Normal Wild Card Weekend.

There are games still to be played because of the arctic weather and the Super schedule but the weekend is done and here's what we've learned about the Bears because of a weekend without Bears football.

1. It's OK to Draft and Play a QB

The Houston Texans' rout of the Cleveland Browns told everyone not to worry about the Bears drafting a rookie quarterback and playing him. C.J. Stroud's entire season said this but winning in postseason in his rookie year definitely communicates It doesn't have to mean losing for another year while they learn.

For that matter, Jordan Love only sat around for two years listening to Luke Getsy and three years listening to Aaron Rodgers before he finally played and he got a playoff win his first year as a starter.

The Bears had a quarterback in his third year this past season and didn't win enough, anyway, so what's wrong with trying a rookie, and one as talented as Caleb Williams or even Drake Maye?

Green Bay absolutely doesn’t have a better a roster than Bears. They have a better HC & QB. Simple as that https://t.co/L29auYauNx
— Michael Snyder (@Snyds00) January 15, 2024

2. Help Needed

The Packers routing Dallas with Love putting up a perfect passer rating and Detroit winning a playoff game for the first time since Erik Kramer was its quarterback with Jared Goff's 121.8 passer rating tells the Bears they'd better get more receiving help for whoever that quarterback is going to be next season. And they better get another pass rusher to go along with Montez Sweat if they're going to play the Lions, Packers and the Vikings.

They found out what happens when you give Love all day to pass during the season finale. It's the same thing that happens when they've given Kirk Cousins all day to pass in the past.

Being No. 2 in rushing is nice and No. 1 against the run is fantastic, but the football is passed these days and it's being passed very well in the NFC North with the exception of one team. They need to pass and they need to rush the passer and they don't have enough personnel to do either.

3. Value of Running QB

There were 12 total rushing attempts by six starting quarterbacks in the three playoff games. They didn't have to use dangerous planned runs by QBs, which risk their chances of winning and the health of their starting passers.

4. Importance of Coaching Hires

Getting someone who really can formulate a passing offense and someone else who can teach young quarterbacks how to run it properly better be a more thorough process than just taking the quarterback coach from a rival and turning him into an NFL offensive coordinator for the first time.

The Texans didn't just succeed with the arm of Stroud. Their offense is meticulously coordinated and plays are perfectly executed.

The same is true for Green Bay, which is playing with the youngest roster in the league and still has an attack that looks mechanized in its efficiency.

5. Bears Took Painful Rebuilding Route

Green Bay's rebuilding process took a year and the Packers missed the playoffs once but now have the league's youngest team and are playing in the divisional round. The Vikings have been rebuilding without completely gutting their roster to the point where they win only three games. Detroit was already bad and suffering when it began the rebuild under Dan Campbell, so it doesn't really compare.

The McCaskeys subjected Bears fans to the most painful possible way to rebuild a team and it hasn't paid dividends yet. It better show up this season because there are better examples of how to do it in their own division and it didn't require embarrassing 14-game losing streaks.

"We're making strong progress, we're doing it the right way," GM Ryan Poles said after the season ended. "It's built on a solid foundation. It's not a house of cards."

It better not be after everything they've put fans through.

6. Hurry Up and Build the Dome

What everyone needs to wonder is why they ever let the current Soldier Field be built inside the old stadium's outer walls without putting a dome on it in the first place.

Those days when it was fashionable to sit out in "Bear Weather" are stupid and over. The frozen field at Kansas City was just more of a reminder NFL games in January and February require better footing and warmer conditions for players productivity and safety and fan safety.

Kevin Warren needs to get this thing done instead of trying to save a few bucks in taxes like he was being Clark Griswold's boss. They need to build it in Arlington Heights, where it can be put up the fastest, and be done with this.

Taking the North and never giving it back seems like quite the chore right about now. #Bears pic.twitter.com/nOtYtUKBhM
— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) January 15, 2024

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven