LAKE FOREST, Ill. – It took Byron Pringle months to feel comfortable in the Chicago Bears’ offense after he signed as a free agent in March. What was asked of the veteran wide receiver was different than what he was used to in Kansas City, where his focus was more on running the right route than syncing his route up with a quarterback’s drop back.
“It’s all about timing in this offense, and being ready for (quarterback) Justin (Fields) when he’s getting ready,” Pringle said. “You have to be on point as far as your steps and your depth on the route, because you could be one yard wider or one yard shorter and it’ll mess up the whole concept of the play.”
Chase Claypool arrived in Chicago on Nov. 2 hours after being traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Learning an entire playbook in an offseason is difficult enough. Having to do it in a matter of weeks is practically impossible, which is why the Bears designed specific plays to ease him into the game plan.
Against Miami in Week 9, Claypool had six targets, which he turned into two catches for 13 yards. He was on the field for a total of 26 snaps. That number dipped to 19 versus Detroit on Nov. 13 when Claypool walked away with one catch for eight yards, seemingly an afterthought in the offense.
Claypool’s lack of usage posed several questions. The Bears traded a 2023 second-round pick, which is projected to be a top-40 pick, to land a player who became arguably the most talented in the receiver room once he was acquired. Claypool posted 873 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns as a rookie in 2020 and followed that up with another 860 yards and two TDs last season.
Adding Claypool carried the perception of immediate and substantial usage and impact. That hasn’t been the case.
“I think, especially with our offense, there’s not like a big rush to try and get me on the field, because our run game is so good and we have so many players that they don’t have to try to throw me into the fire for the offense to be productive,” Claypool said. “I just think as I move along, we’ll get the pass game more and even the run game, because I love blocking, too.”
The Bears’ current streak of five games with at least 225 yards is the longest in NFL history. The Bears rank second in designed rush percentage and own the league’s top rushing attack at 201.7 yards per game.
Claypool noted how Chicago’s route tree is expanded from what he ran previously in Pittsburgh with “a lot of intricacies” that take time to master.
“He’s learning it,” Getsy said. “I think how it started, it was like, hey, these are what you need to know for this game. And then last week it grew more. And now this week, he’s closer to just diving in and being a part of it.
“So now the expectation is we don’t have to just tag the play as if you’re in now. That's part of the natural growth of this whole thing, because you can see we run the rock and we do a good job with the play-pass game, and so it's not like we're just spreading ‘em out.”
Fields said he’s spent every day working one-on-one with Claypool after practice to get him up to speed.
"Our routes have a lot of details in them, so it’s tough for him to come in and learn every little detail of every route,” Fields said. “Just working him in on the plays that he does have and trying to execute the best we can."
There’s not a rush for a 3-7 team to rapidly increase Claypool’s workload when the receiver is already slated into plans for next year. An underwhelming 2023 free agent receiver group played into general manager Ryan Poles’ decision to trade for Claypool with the expectation that his integration into the offense may be slow.
But getting him on the field in a more consistent role is just as important for Poles’ evaluation of the offense to determine where else the Bears need an upgrade for next season.
That extended look could come this weekend against Atlanta’s league-worst pass defense (280.1 yards per game).
“Hopefully we’ll see more playing time from him, and we’ve always had a lot of plays in for him, but it’s just a matter of how the game is going, what plays are called, what plays are not called,” wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said. “But there is a big package for him within our game plan, just whenever you get to it, hopefully we’ll get to some of it this week and you can see it. We’ll see.”