On Thursday night, the Bears got their first win in 347 days with a 40-20 victory over the Washington Commanders fueled by an explosion from DJ Moore.
It took the Bears just 12 hours to collect their second win of the week.
On Friday morning, the Bears finally unloaded Chase Claypool, trading the disgruntled wide receiver to the Miami Dolphins along with a 2025 seventh-round pick for a 2025 sixth-round pick.
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That the Bears were able to get draft pennies for Claypool should be considered a win given that it was clear the receiver’s time in Chicago had ended after the team benched him for back-to-back games and effectively exiled him from Halas Hall.
There’s no doubt the Claypool trade will go down as a giant red L on general manager Ryan Poles’ ledger. Trading your own second-round pick in a season that you were clearly tanking for a receiver Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers were trying to give away was almost certainly not going to work out.
It wound up being an all-time blunder.
Claypool finished his Bears tenure with 18 catches for 191 yards and one touchdown.
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But the lack of production is only the tip of the iceberg.
Claypool, who had reportedly become a distraction in the Steelers’ locker room prior to being traded, never fully bought into what the Bears’ coaches preach.
Sources told NBC Sports Chicago that Claypool was often difficult in meetings and coaches had trouble getting him to buy into his role in the offense.
There multiple sideline blow ups directed at offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, the blocking effort issues against the Packers, the forgotten play in Tampa, and the public questioning of his coaches prior to his benching.
Poles had high hopes for Claypool.
On paper, the Notre Dame product appeared to be the perfect compliment to DJ Moore and Darnell Mooney.
But the games aren’t played on paper. Chemistry, attitude, and togetherness are vital.
Tight end Cole Kmet said the losing impacted Claypool and the receiver struggled to deal with it “like an adult.” It’s clear Claypool thought he should be featured more in the offense and was upset with the Bears’ search for an offensive identity.
That the Bears’ offense has looked like a completely different unit these past two games isn’t a surprise. In three games with Claypool active, quarterback Justin Fields’ QBR was 13.7. In the two games without Claypool, it’s 74.7.
Claypool wasn’t the only reason for the Bears’ offensive struggles but it’s impossible not to see correlation between his exit and the Bears’ offensive growth.
The Bears are a better team with Moore and Mooney taking most of the receiver snaps. They are more effective in two tight end sets than three wide receiver looks.
Claypool’s measurables made him desirable but all the negatives outweighed the potential the Bears first saw.
The Claypool trade will hang over Poles’ head for some time. First-time general managers make mistakes and this one isn’t easily flushed.
Poles must learn from the error. He has to diagnose where the evaluation went wrong and make sure such a flop doesn’t happen again.
The Chase Claypool saga ended Friday much in the same way it played out on the field … with a whimper that was hardly worth noticing