After firing Luke Getsy, the Chicago Bears brass knew they had to get the replacement at offensive coordinator right. GM Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus conducted a thorough search encompassing nine candidates of varying backgrounds. After some deliberation, they decided to bring in former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. It was a logical decision. He stemmed from the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree, meaning the Bears could maintain some consistency with their current scheme. He also has three years of playcalling experience—something Getsy did not have.
However, his value goes beyond that. Eberflus stated one of the big reasons he gravitated to Waldron was the coordinator’s ability to communicate and teach younger players. That was something Getsy struggled with during his tenure. Derrik Klassen of The 33rd Team took it a step further. He is widely regarded as one of the better quarterback analysts in the business. He believes Waldron’s biggest strength is a subtle genius to adapt his offense to the players he has. What he did in Seattle is a perfect example.
He made the most of a less-than-perfect situation.
Waldron adapted the offense to the quarterback, which was almost unrecognizable from other offenses in the (McVay) tree.
The most distinct difference between Waldron’s offense and those of his peers is the formation width. Almost all Shanahan/McVay guys love playing with condensed formations.
According to PFF’s Anthony Treash, the four most condensed offenses in the league in 2023 were the 49ers, Rams, Dolphins and Texans. Even with wildly different quarterbacks, varying ability to run the ball and different skill sets at wide receiver, all of those Shanahan/McVay types wanted to play from tight formations.
Not Waldron. In fact, the Seahawks had the widest formations in the league in 2023. A receiver room devoid of players willing and able to block necessitated that change, but Smith’s ability to handle an expansive dropback passing game also allowed it to work.
Accordingly, the Seahawks’ 51.9 percent first-down passing rate (sixth) and 71.2 percent shotgun rate were higher than most of the other notable Shanahan/McVay types, per TruMedia.
There’s a good chance Waldron only did all of that because the personnel required it, but even if that’s the case, it’s impressive he could deviate so far from the core principles of the offense.
Shane Waldron can actually do what Getsy said he would.
One of the first statements from the former offensive coordinator was that he’d adapt the offensive scheme to the personnel. He wanted to utilize players to their greatest strengths. Sometimes, he had success doing this, but it too often felt like he retreated to certain alignments and play calls whenever things weren’t going well, even if the players had shown they couldn’t execute them effectively. Waldron recognized immediately that the Seahawks didn’t have the setup necessary to run a pure wide-zone.
That meant he had two choices. Either he could try to run it anyway, hoping guys would learn it. Or he could tweak the system to help his players play their best football. He chose the latter. As a result, Seattle finished with a winning record each of the past two seasons. That was with a defense that routinely ranked among the NFL’s worst. Now, Shane Waldron should have personnel better suited to his original system and a defense he can lean on. If Klassen is right about him, what Bears fans see this coming season may not be what you expect.
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