Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus made a comment that should have wide receiver Chase Claypool on his toes during practice this week. Claypool, in a contract year with the Bears, had viral clips of his poor blocking performance against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 circulating social media this week.
This Chase Claypool compilation is insane.
It will be interesting to see how Eberflus handles a player who loafed the entire game.
— Max Markham (@MaxMarkhamNFL) September 11, 2023
Eberflus was asked by reporters at his pre-practice press conference Wednesday about Claypool’s effort during the game Sunday. (Eberflus said Monday the team’s effort against the Packers was not in question after the blowout loss in Week 1.) Eberflus and Claypool talked about his performance on Monday, but the head coach came short of saying Claypool didn’t make an effort.
Eberflus said Claypool’s main problem in pass blocking came down to using improper technique. Claypool has shown good technique in practice but failed to do so in the game, Eberflus said. (Read what you want into that.)
The Chicago Bears are considering benching Chase Claypool
A reporter asked Eberflus if he would consider keeping Equanimeous St. Brown, a good perimeter blocker, active while choosing to bench Claypool in Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. St. Brown and Velus Jones Jr. were two healthy scratches at wide receiver in Week 1.
“So we’re looking at all possible right now,” Eberflus said. “I’m not going to talk about who’s going to be up and down for the game for obvious reasons. But we’re looking for all things to make our team better in terms of who’s going to be up and who’s going to be down in terms of the active roster.”
Coach Eberflus is speaking with the media https://t.co/DY6SRkkoka
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 13, 2023
In other words, the Bears are considering benching Claypool.
And they probably should if they traded a high second-round pick to come in and be a blocking wide receiver.
St. Brown proved he was ineffective as a pass catcher last year, but if the Bears aren’t interested in throwing the ball downfield, they may as well use the players tailor made for a losing offense that uses its skilled players as perimeter blockers.
This coaching staff is short on answers this week. They’ll try and regroup for a must-win game against the Buccaneers on the road Sunday. (The Kansas City Chiefs will play the Bears in Week 3; going 0-3 would kill the regime’s soft culture they rebuilt in two offseasons.)
We’ll know how serious this coaching staff is about winning if they put the most talented players on the field and play to their strengths. That technique wasn’t used in Week 1.
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