Seahawks Analyst Predicted Shane Waldron Wouldn't Last The Season

If you need any indication that the Chicago Bears vetting process for a new offensive coordinator was flawed from the beginning, this story hammers it home. Everybody knows the story. Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles met with nine candidates for the job, trying to cast a wide net for who they could get to develop Caleb Williams. They eventually settled on Shane Waldron, former offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. It felt like a safe decision. He'd done some good work with Geno Smith the past two years and was an understudy of Sean McVay and Pete Carroll.

However, it is apparent the Bears didn't do their homework. If they had spoken to more people who watched Waldron and had ties to people around him, they would've realized he was a walking red flag. Nobody has proven that more than Dave Mahler of 93.3 KJR, who covers the Seahawks in Seattle. According to Spiegs And Holmes of 670 The Score, he told them shortly after the Waldron hire became official that it was destined for failure. He even went so far as to say it wouldn't last the entire season.

Safe to say he nailed it.

In hindsight, the warning signs with Shane Waldron were always there.

One of the biggest came during last season. Former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has never openly criticized his coaches publicly. However, he came as close as he'd ever get after a 31-13 loss to San Francisco.

"I’m concerned about everything we’re doing right now. That night last night will make you challenge everything. There are questions to be asked and answers to be found. That’s where we are right now...

...We have unique talents, and we gotta make sure we’re maximizing that. I feel like we’re not. We’ve got guys in different areas of our game that can do stuff better. Our tight ends can be used better than we’ve used them in the last couple of weeks. We need to get that going again.”

Sounds eerily familiar to what the Bears offense was going through, doesn't it? Carroll recognized Shane Waldron wasn't getting the most out of his players and seemed to have blind spots in how to deploy his personnel. It is hard to imagine how the Bears weren't aware of any of these concerns and chose to hire him anyway. That speaks to a glaring flaw in their entire process. Then again, it shouldn't have been surprising since the same approach landed them Luke Getsy two years prior.

Nobody will ever know for sure why Eberflus chose Waldron. Maybe he's just that ignorant, or maybe he wanted somebody who wouldn't be in danger of replacing him as head coach if things went wrong during the season. Whatever the case, that decision will ultimately get him fired.