There’s plenty that went wrong in the Chicago Bears’ Week 1 blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers. But the performance of wide receiver Chase Claypool ranks near the top.
Claypool looked like he didn’t want to be on the field, where he didn’t put much effort into blocking or route running. He was targeted twice and had zero catches.
Buy Bears TicketsHead coach Matt Eberflus fielded several questions about Claypool during his Wednesday press conference, including the possibility of Claypool being inactive for Sunday’s game against the Bucs. And Eberflus didn’t exactly rule it out.
“We’re looking at all possibilities right now,” Eberflus said. “I’m not going to talk about who’s going to be up or down for the game right now, for obvious reasons. We’re looking at all things to make our team better — Who’s going to be up and who’s going to be down in terms of the active roster.”
Claypool notably struggled with blocking Sunday, which Eberflus attributed to poor technique.
You have to figure the Bears’ offensive game plan will be similar to Week 1 — getting the ball out of Justin Fields’ hands quickly to compensate for a struggling offensive line. So it’s imperative to have Equanimeous St. Brown — known for his blocking ability — active. Perhaps that’s in place of Claypool.
Fields was asked about what the offense missed without St. Brown during Sunday’s game against the Packers, and the answer was what you’d expect.
“He’s a great run-blocker, knows the playbook like the back of his hand, great perimeter blocker,” Fields said. “He’s a leader in the receiver room. But on him being inactive I don’t make those calls.”
You’d expect St. Brown to be active this week after the offense’s struggles in the season opener. But the fact that we’re having a conversation about Claypool, who the Bears traded the 32nd overall pick for, being benched in Week 2 speaks to what a disaster the trade has become.
