It’s been all talk from Chase Claypool from the moment he set foot in Halas Hall.
He spoke about being “a guy who’s always going to work,” in his opening news conference when the Bears traded a second-round pick to the Steelers for him last November and was enthusiastic about a potential contract extension. And general manager Ryan Poles indicated at the time that possibility incentivized him to make the deal.
Now it looks like the Bears can’t get rid of him fast enough.
They made Claypool a healthy scratch Sunday against the Broncos, signaling the complete collapse of what has been Poles’ biggest error. It’d be no surprise if he traded or cut him soon.
Claypool wasn’t at Soldier Field, where other inactive players were on the sideline. And that’s where an already messy situation got messier, as coach Matt Eberflus talked himself into a corner.
Eberflus was asked clearly whether the Bears told Claypool to stay home and said no. When pressed on whether it was Claypool’s choice, Eberflus said, “We told him that it was a choice, and he’s at home right now.” He said Claypool is still on the team and he expects him in the building Monday like usual.
A Bears spokesman said later that Eberflus misspoke and that the Bears instructed Claypool not to come to the game. But he was definitive in his original comments.
Claypool got benched two days after he said the Bears weren’t putting him in the best position to succeed — the same criticism he fired at the Steelers — and said of his role in the sputtering offense, “You just have to make do with what you’ve got.”
The Bears likely hadn’t decided on inactives when Claypool said that. It’s probable those comments were the last in a long list of reasons to sit him.
Eberflus denied that being a factor, but also said — almost certainly inaccurately — that inactives are decided the morning of a game. NFL teams typically set their roster Friday, and quarterback Justin Fields said Eberflus told the team about Claypool on Saturday.
Going public with discontent was a bold play from someone who two weeks earlier apologized to the team for poor effort in the opener against the Packers. Coach Matt Eberflus hedged when asked that week if he’d bench Claypool in favor of Equanimeous St. Brown, who doesn’t have Claypool’s natural talent but does everything right.
The Bears have botched every step with Claypool, starting with Poles thinking he knew something the Steelers didn’t, and recently Eberflus letting Claypool play against the Buccaneers after what he did in the opener.
A coach who built his entire philosophy around an effort-centric H.I.T.S. principle cannot allow a halfway performance to slide, but Eberflus did. It was especially puzzling considering Claypool isn’t racking up numbers.
He managed just 14 catches for 140 yards with no touchdowns in seven games last season, and everyone in the organization shielded him at every turn, especially Eberflus and Fields, by saying to be patient while he learned the new system.
Eberflus did it again Sunday, saying Claypool bounced back from the Packers game with a good performance against the Bucs and was even better last week against the Chiefs. That account obviously contradicts his decision to bench him.
Fields had his back again, too. He said he called Claypool “after whatever happened” and that he’s talked to him multiple times about controlling how he shows his emotions.
“Do I want him on the team? That’s an easy answer: yes, of course,” Fields said.
His antics could be tolerable if he was lighting it up, but he has four catches for 51 yards on 14 targets. At this point, though, anything would be better than Claypool — especially that draft pick, which ended up being No. 32 overall.
Lots of talk. Very few plays.
And now there’s nothing left for Claypool to say but goodbye.
