Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said he has one problem with the receiver room before the 2024 season. Eberflus met with reporters during a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Most questions at the press conference surrounded the team’s plans at quarterback. The Bears will meet with top quarterback prospects this week before they decide what to do with Justin Fields and the draft.
The Chicago Bears want more than D.J. Moore at WR
But there are other problems with the roster the Bears must address. Eberflus said he would like to add another pass rusher, cornerback, and safety for the defense. But he said the Bears need to add to a position that will help their quarterback succeed at situational football in 2024.
“We don’t have a lot of depth [at wide receiver] right now; first of all, that’s the first part,” Eberflus said.
“Adding some dynamic pieces there, through free agency potentially and through the draft potentially. To me, I know when you’re trying to defend that when you have a weapon at tight end, and when you have a weapon at “X” receiver at D.J. [Moore], you add a piece or two to the other side, it really balances you up and it’s hard to defend.”
Correcting a mistake the Bears made with Justin Fields
One of the mistakes the Bears made in the Justin Fields era was the lack of dysfunctional help at wide receiver. The Bears basically played without a WR1 or WR2 during Fields’ second season with the Bears in 2022.
Moore helped add explosiveness to the offense in 2023. But he was the only wide receiver who scared defenses. Darnell Mooney underperformed in his contract season with the Bears last year. The Chase Claypool disaster resulted in the Bears’ 2023 32nd overall pick being traded to the Miami Dolphins for peanuts after adding 51 yards to his receiving total in Chicago in Fields’ third season.
If the Bears hand the starting quarterback job to a rookie, as it looks ever more likely they will do, the new hope will be in a much better situation than Fields inherited in 2021. The Bears will have Moore, and quite likely, one of the best wide receivers in this year’s draft class with the ninth overall pick.
Related: Matt Eberflus drops hint on Bears plans at QB
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