Chase Claypool's Bears future in question after he's inactive and absent Sunday (2024)

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CHICAGO — On Friday, Chicago Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool was asked if he felt like the team had put him in the best position to showcase his skill set this season. He thought for several seconds, and then said, “No.”

The video clip of Claypool at his locker giving a definitive “no” went viral on Bears Twitter, and 24 hours later, quarterback Justin Fields said coach Matt Eberflus told the team at their Saturday team meeting that Claypool would be a healthy scratch against the Denver Broncos in Week 4.

Fields said he called Claypool after he found out that the receiver would not be playing this week, to check in on him and make sure he was in good spirits. He said he wants Claypool to be part of this team.

“Chase, he’s a weapon,” Fields said Sunday after the Bears’ 31-28 loss to the Broncos. “He’s passionate. He just has to work on his display of his emotions. Me and him have had multiple conversations with that.”

On Sunday at Soldier Field, Claypool was not on the sideline with his team. His warmup clothes hung untouched in his locker. Safety Eddie Jackson was there. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson was there. Quarterback Nathan Peterman and running back D’Onta Foreman were there. Every inactive player except Claypool.

The Chase Claypool reality show began in earnest in the season opener when he appeared to be barely trying to block or run routes against Green Bay. He then apologized to what sounded like nearly every member of the Bears organization to get back into the team’s good graces. He played better in Games 2 and 3, and up until this week, had been on the field for 80.2 percent of Chicago’s offensive plays.

Fields, who has made his own viral comments about coaching this season, referenced Claypool’s Friday comment after the game.

“One thing I do know is everybody in the building is trying to reach their full potential,” he said. “Players, coaches, coaches trying to get the most out of every player. And then us as players, we’re trying to get the most out of ourselves and be the best we can.”

Rookie receiver Tyler Scott acknowledged that he paid attention to Claypool’s negative comments Friday.

“Sometimes you can hear it,” Scott said. “Especially when we’re not winning. Everyone has something to say and everyone has an opinion on something. But at the end of the day, we’re all on the same page. Everyone is just passionate about winning football games. That’s where everything stems from.”

Eberflus said Claypool did not know he was going to be inactive before he spoke Friday, because Eberflus submitted his inactives list Sunday. The coach said Claypool’s comments Friday did not factor into the decision to make him inactive.

Fields said the coaching staff didn’t tell the players why Claypool was a healthy scratch.

“Of course I’m frustrated when one of your best weapons on the outside is not in the game,” Fields told reporters postgame. “It is what it is. Coach and the front office made the decision. As a player, I can’t do anything about it. Got to go out there with the players I have and execute to the best of my ability. I just try to control what I can control and stay out of what they’ve got going on.”

Eberflus confirmed that Claypool was not at the game. When asked if he told Claypool to stay home, Eberflus said in his postgame news conference: “We told him that it was a choice. And he’s at home.”

But after Bears’ postgame interviews and when all the reporters were back up in the press box starting to write, a representative from the Bears PR staff made the rounds and told reporters that actually, Eberflus had told Claypool to stay home.

What’s worse? A receiver who is supposed to be a featured piece of this offense, one that the team traded a second-round pick for, chose to stay home on his couch instead of supporting his team? Or that the head coach told that receiver to not come to the game at all?

Both of these realities seem equally bad because one suggests a player who doesn’t care, and the other suggests a player whose presence isn’t helpful — or even wanted.

We’ll see if we learn more about the Chase Claypool situation on Monday, but here was the exchange after the game with Bears head coach Matt Eberflus (the team later said that Claypool was told to stay home) pic.twitter.com/1szdSjTyu5

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) October 1, 2023

And there’s another reality about Claypool that seems grounded in truth — the film.

“I think he’s working to learn the offense and doing a good job with that,” Eberflus said. “But again, we evaluate that every single week, who gives us the best chance to win, the guys up and the guys down.”

What does it say that a fourth-year receiver who has been part of this offense for nearly a year is still learning it?

Aside from Fields, Claypool’s teammates didn’t want to discuss him or his absence.

“That’s something the coaches can speak on,” Scott said. “A lot of people are wondering about the whole situation, but that’s up to coaches.”

“I’m not gonna comment on that,” Velus Jones Jr. said. “I know it is a sensitive subject.”

There are many unanswered questions when it comes to Claypool, but Eberflus said he expects the receiver back in the building Monday.

(Top photo: Reed Hoffmann / Associated Press)

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Kalyn Kahler is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the NFL. She previously worked as a staff writer for Defector and at Sports Illustrated, where she worked her way up from editorial assistant and personal assistant to Peter King. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.