Chase Claypool’s days with the Chicago Bears seem like numbered.
During a information convention Monday at Halas Hall that was at instances tense and awkward, coach Matt Eberflus stated Claypool has been requested to avoid the group this week — and maybe completely — because the Bears face a brief turnaround earlier than Thursday’s sport in opposition to the Washington Commanders.
Eberflus stated he and common supervisor Ryan Poles collaborated on that call.
“In the building, we feel like that’s best for the team,” Eberflus stated. “And really it comes down to this: When you’re evaluating players in meetings, in practice, in walk-throughs and all those things, it’s important you evaluate the entire body of work, right? We just feel that right now Chase is going to be out of the building. It’s best for our football team.”
After the Bears knowledgeable Claypool he can be inactive for Sunday’s sport in opposition to the Denver Broncos, he was not in attendance at Soldier Field for the Bears’ 31-28 loss as confusion lingered about whether or not he opted to remain away or was advised to by the group.
Eberflus stated Monday the group requested Claypool to remain house. Now, it appears, the Bears are weighing extra important separation situations, hoping to both commerce the fourth-year huge receiver or presumably waive him to chop their losses.
“Ryan does all the trades and transactions,” Eberflus stated, “and we’ll decide that as we go forward.”
Claypool has had inconsistent manufacturing since arriving through a commerce with the Pittsburgh Steelers in November. In 10 video games for the Bears, he has simply 18 catches for 191 yards with one landing. He missed two video games due to harm final season and was a wholesome scratch Sunday.
More considerably, Claypool’s emotional volatility and erratic work habits have been an ongoing problem at Halas Hall. And whereas Eberflus bounced round Monday along with his solutions on Claypool’s sudden estrangement, he insinuated the 25-year-old didn’t meet expectations within the Week 4 preparation course of.
“When I came here Day 1, I talked about being on time, being respectful and working hard,” Eberflus stated. “That to me is vital for each particular person — if it’s a employees member, a participant or a coach. That’s the place we’re.
“We feel right now this is the best decision for us. … We have standards for that. And if those standards are met, then everything’s good. If it’s not, then it’s not.”
Tight finish Cole Kmet, a detailed good friend of Claypool’s and a school teammate at Notre Dame, stated he hoped to succeed in out to Claypool after studying of Monday’s information. Kmet is aware of Claypool nicely sufficient to know his temperament and stated the toll of the Bears’ shedding streak — now 14 video games — seemingly affected Claypool’s mindset.
“Losing can be hard for guys to deal with,” Kmet stated. “It’s been arduous for me to handle, however you’ve obtained to search out methods to get again to work and clear your thoughts — day-after-day. It’s arduous. Look, I haven’t received a sport in nearly a yr now, and belief me, I take it house with me and it hurts, man. It’s arduous to cope with it. But we’ve all obtained to be adults about it and be capable of transfer on and be capable of belief the method set.
“That can be hard to do sometimes when things aren’t going your way and maybe you’re not getting the targets you want and you’re not winning. All those things add up and you get frustrated. But you have to be a man about it, be an adult about it and be able to reset your mind each and every week.”
After Sunday’s loss, Eberflus stumbled by way of his clarification of Claypool’s absence, saying that Claypool selected to not come to Soldier Field.
Asked why Claypool wasn’t on the sideline like the opposite inactive gamers, Eberflus stated: “I’m not sure. … We told him that it was a choice and he’s at home right now.”
Shortly after, a group spokesperson advised reporters that Eberflus had misspoken and that Claypool was advised to not attend the sport.
Quarterback Justin Fields stated after Sunday’s sport that he reached out to Claypool after the group realized that Claypool can be inactive. Fields stated gamers grew to become conscious of that call Saturday throughout a group assembly.
“I called Chase after whatever happened, and I was just checking up on him, making sure he was in good spirits,” Fields stated.
Fields was requested if he nonetheless needed Claypool as a part of the group given the dynamics.
“Of course,” Fields stated. “Chase, he’s a weapon. He’s passionate. He just has to work on his display of his emotions. Me and him have had multiple conversations with that.”
Fields acknowledged he was bothered by the state of affairs.
“Of course I’m frustrated when one of your best weapons on the outside is not in the game,” he stated. “But it is what it is. Coach and the front office, they made the decision and that’s what it is. As a player, I can’t do anything about it.”
Eberflus stated the coaches and entrance workplace focus on inactives each week based mostly on their analysis of how gamers carry out throughout walk-throughs, conferences and practices.
He stated Claypool’s remarks to reporters Friday, wherein he asserted he wasn’t getting used optimally to showcase his strengths, had nothing to do with the choice to make him inactive.
Claypool elaborated on these remarks within the locker room Friday.
“Every situation has the ability to be ideal, and I think we’re just working toward that,” he stated. “I wouldn’t say it’s not an ideal place for me. Obviously there are other places. … You can say, ‘Oh, I want to be on the best offense with the highest passing yards,’ but that doesn’t happen in football. You just have to make do with what you’ve got.”
Asked how Bears coaches might finest place him for fulfillment, Claypool stated: “I’ll let them decide that. I’m not going to give any pointers. That’s their job to decide and I’ll just do what they tell me to do.”
Eberflus stated Monday that the Bears knowledgeable Claypool over the cellphone Saturday that he can be inactive in opposition to the Broncos. Eberflus was requested what occurred from there.
“What transpired is we told him he was inactive and he was not going to be with the team at the game at that point,” Eberflus stated. “Then we informed him (Monday) morning he was not going to be here this week.”
As for Claypool’s response?
“It’s between me and him,” Eberflus stated. “It’s a conversation between us — me, him and Ryan.”
This isn’t the primary time Claypool has had a behavioral flare-up since becoming a member of the Bears. In Week 17 final season, throughout a blowout loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, he grew to become loud and demonstrative whereas pleading to see the ball extra and questioning the satisfaction of teammates. Fields calmed him down.
“It’s good to have emotion in a game,” Fields stated. “But you just have to know how to control it.”
The present Claypool state of affairs is the newest headache for a Bears group that fell to 0-4 Sunday, blowing a 21-point second-half lead after shedding its first three video games by a median of 20 factors.
Defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned lower than two weeks in the past in what sources have indicated was a conduct-related separation from the group. The Bears’ final victory was nearly a full yr in the past, Oct. 24 in opposition to the New England Patriots.
Claypool’s exit would pack an added punch given the Bears traded their 2022 second-round decide to the Steelers to amass him in the midst of final season. That ended up being the No. 32 decide. The Bears’ return on funding from that deal is much from what anybody hoped.
Now Bears gamers have one other unlucky state of affairs to course of as they attempt to snap the shedding streak.
“Coach (Eberflus) and Poles are handling that in the best interest of the team,” stated linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, one of many group captains. “We’re simply following together with what they inform us.
“We’ve just got to keep the main thing the main thing. Understanding what the goal is, understanding what our mission still is, the leaders are still leading in a positive way. And we’re really not trying to let a lot of outside stuff dissect this football team.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com