LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- A season that started with such promise for the Bears never got off the ground, and Sunday's collapse against the Cleveland Browns was the final dagger in a lost season.
The Bears are 5-9, don't have a full evaluation of quarterback Justin Fields, and will enter the offseason with a lot of questions. General manager Ryan Poles will also have a lot of ammo to answer them.
A 5-9 season in which expectations weren't met demands a scapegoat -- a culprit for the failures of a team with outsized expectations hoisted on them from the outside.
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While head coach Matt Eberflus and quarterback Justin Fields' futures in Chicago are uncertain as we arrive at Week 16, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy has found himself in the crosshairs as an easy scapegoat, even if reality is a lot more complex.
Getsy has done some good things as the Bears offensive coordinator. The comprehensive quarterback run game he instituted last season during the mini-bye was a success and helped Fields start to blossom. But there's also been a ton of inconsistency, and Getsy has often struggled to adjust in-game to what defenses are throwing at him.
His scripts have been good. But it has been a mixed bag once the first 20 plays have been exhausted. Fields has been up and down when healthy and missed four games due to injury. The offensive line has only spent four games at full strength, and receivers not named DJ Moore have struggled to make a real impact in the passing game.
The Bears rank 22nd in total offense, 22nd in scoring, 27th in passing, and fifth in rushing. In totality, that's not good enough.
Some of that falls on Getsy. But it's never as black and white as the outside world believes.
If Eberflus keeps his job (he has some work to do), he'll have some critical decisions to make at both coordinator spots. The spotlight will shine the brightest on Getsy and the OC position, especially with a rookie quarterback potentially coming in via the No. 1 overall pick.
How Eberflus assesses the offense's progress and Getsy's role in its fault will play a big role in determining the trajectory of the rebuild.
“I love Luke," Eberflus said Wednesday at Halas Hall. "He’s a great leader in the room. Like I said, I’ll evaluate everything at the end. We’re constantly evaluating things every single day, so today after practice, like normal, we’ll meet, we’ll talk about this play, that play, ‘Hey, we like this one; let’s try to do it this way,’ or, ‘Let’s make this correction there,’ so it’s constant communication during the course of the week and then into the game.”
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Eberflus understands the offense isn't where it was expected to be in Year 2 of the Fields-Getsy partnership.
But, to take a quote out of Getsy's book, it's a 17-game process that isn't finished yet.
“Looking at that as a whole in terms of the expectations, you want to focus on what we’re gonna do this week," Eberflus said about not meeting offensive expectations. "We’ve had some improvements during the course of the year on all sides of the ball. It’s critical that we focus on being the best we can be this week against this opponent right here, right now and have our feet right here.”
Eberflus, however, did acknowledge the need to look at the big picture at the same time as the day-to-day grind.
"No question, no question," Eberflus said. "And we’re gonna assess all those things at the end and, again, we’ve gotta play these games right here, right now, so we’re gonna focus on being our best when our best is required, and that’s required today.”
The Bears' offense hasn't been at its best enough this season, and they are out of time to fix their issues in 2023. The only question that remains is: What fix comes this offseason?