We’re only 3 weeks into the 2023 NFL season so it’s tough to draw too many concrete conclusions. At 0-3, are the Minnesota Vikings a truly terrible team? Having looked more than competitive in their first 3 games, are the Arizona Cardinals a legitimate Wildcard threat in the NFC? Are the Miami Dolphins the team to beat in the AFC? There’s a good chance that the answer to each is no because things will crystalise in the upcoming weeks, but one team that does appear to be solidifying its place in the NFL landscape is the Chicago Bears. It’s just not where they wanted it to be.

Through the opening trio of games, the Bears look like the undeniable worst team in the league in pretty much every aspect. They also appear to be a franchise in total chaos and probably the most dysfunctional team out there, a tough ask in a league that contains the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets. And they can’t even get through a week without some bizarre situation befallen the organisation, in fact last week they had 2 such incidents with the confusion about defensive co-ordinator Alan Williams resignation (which may or may not have involved law enforcement and human resources) and, AND, thieves breaking into Soldier Field and stealing over $100,000 worth of equipment. So where do they go from here?

Let’s start with the headline, and most prominent aspect of the Bears tough start. What are they going to do with Justin Fields? From around mid-season last season, there was real hope that Fields was about to break out and become the next version of Jalen Hurts. In fact, I wrote about the hope surrounding Fields in Chicago less than 11 months ago. But through 3 games of 2023, all that hope, excitement and expectation has completely evaporated. In those opening 3 games, of which the Bears have lost them all, Fields has only thrown for 526 yards, with 3 touchdowns against 4 interceptions. Fine, he’s never showed elite passing numbers but what about his superpower, running the ball? Well on that front, he has only rushed 24 times for 109 yards with 1 touchdown. At the height of his success last season, he was almost hitting those numbers each game, not over 3. What is causing the significant regression?

Fields himself last week pinned it on being overcoached and not playing his natural style, although he tried to walk back those comments later in the week once he realised who he threw under the bus. Those close to the Bears think that the staff were focussed on moulding Fields into more a pocket passer in year 3, but that experiment doesn’t appear to be working in any way. Is it because he doesn’t trust his coaches or the talent around him, or maybe he doesn’t trust himself? The playmaking group continues to lag way behind the rest of the league, but they added a true number 1 receiver in DJ Moore in the off-season as part of their mission to upgrade Fields and the offence. But at the moment, Moore can’t get going. He only has 11 catches, 170 yards and a touchdown (when down 38 points against the Chiefs on Sunday), and he had a momentum killing drop on Sunday too. Is he not playing up to what we saw in Carolina or is he being held back by Fields and this offence? That answer will likely become clearer in due course. It also doesn’t help that the offensive line is decimated (and not very good to begin with). But the whole situation begs the question, why did they change what was working last season when Fields was setting tongues wagging? Perhaps they thought it was unsustainable or that it wasn’t the blueprint for success. It must be remembered that the Bears didn’t win a game after week 7, which was exactly when Fields was on his hot streak. Whatever the reason for their off-season pivot, they need to decide the next course of action, and quickly.

When you consider everything at stake, it appears as though the Bears are hurtling towards the first overall pick again in 2024, after owning the “honour” in 2023. They traded that pick away to the Panthers for a haul of picks and Moore, but would they do the same in 2024? It seems unlikely given the shape of the franchise. Should they end up at the bottom of the NFL pile again, there’s a high likelihood that Fields will be finished in Chicago. The team won’t want to run it back again with a quarterback that has failed to win so much that the team has had to pick at #1 two consecutive years. And the potential crop of quarterbacks entering the draft in 2024 looks like it could be historic with Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and JJ McCarthy headlining the group. For the last draft, they decided to pass over the potential options and hope they could build up the supporting cast around Fields. Doing the same thing again is almost unthinkable.

But surely there’s signs of hope in Chicago? Unfortunately, maybe not, because Fields was meant to be that hope. The running game is just as bad, if not worse than the passing game. And the defence is truly terrible, ranking dead last in almost every major category. And that’s been a regular occurrence. They were carved open by a Chiefs offence that had stumbled through their opening 2 games (in fairness, they were going to click eventually and it just so happened that the Bears let them click all they wanted). There are 3 other teams that are winless, but they all have something to believe in. The Vikings have Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins. The Panthers have a decent defence and Bryce Young, so they are thinking ahead anyway. The Broncos are a little more hopeless but Sean Payton should count for something. But the Bears have nothing. The scary thought is that the current situation might not even be rock bottom yet. What happens then? Head Coach Matt Eberflus and OC Luke Getsy appear to be teetering on the brink. Fans are burning Fields jerseys in the streets. Even the GM, Ryan Poles, could be cleaned out. A full tear down is definitely on the cards for the 2^nd time in 4 years. And there’s no guarantee it will pay off because it didn’t last time. Part of the problem moving forward is that they offloaded most of their tradeable assets last year and it brought them very little. Moore might get some interest towards the trade deadline. Their younger talent they probably want to hold onto and build around them. They overpaid for numerous defensive players this off-season but it’s tough to imagine any other team picking up the slack on contracts for mid talent. This is not the first time in recent memory that the Bears have been languishing in the basement of the NFL. It’s just that this time, they appear to be the floor of the basement with no obvious signs of getting up.