Bears' Chase Claypool talked to coaches after criticism

TAMPA, Fla. -- Chicago Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool said he met with coaches at his behest shortly after his effort was the subject of criticism in last week's loss to the Green Bay Packers.

"I went up to them, I texted them and asked if we could talk," Claypool said following the Bears' 27-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. "Just for my own sake. Try to find any type of thing that could help me progress the way I want to and learn from mistakes the way I want to.

"They were good. They told me what they wanted from me. I made sure I delivered on that throughout the week."

Claypool was targeted twice against Green Bay but did not record a reception. His lack of execution and effort with run blocking and the screen game was addressed by Bears coaches and players throughout the week.

"I would say really, for anyone on our team, there's a standard for how we're going to play football here and if you can't rise to that standard and live in that space, it's going to be hard to perform for the Chicago Bears," general manager Ryan Poles told ESPN 1000 on Sunday morning.

"With Chase, I think he's a guy that has all the motivation in the world to be a good football player. He's got to clean some things up. We had some good conversations. I expect to see him make those changes and if he doesn't, then we'll have to figure out what we're going to do after that."

Claypool had three catches for 36 yards and a 20-yard touchdown catch -- his first with the Bears -- in the loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday.

"I thought he did a nice job, obviously," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Catching that skinny post on the end zone was excellent. I thought it was really good."

Expectations were high entering this season after Chicago sent the No. 32 pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers last November in exchange for Claypool, who finished with 14 catches for 140 yards in seven games with the Bears in 2022.

Claypool admits there were plays he wanted to have back from the game against the Packers, but he did not believe his film told the full story of his performance.

"I think there's good games and bad games, and I think if you highlight all the bad plays in a game, I think it makes it look worse than it was and I think it's easy to point out bad things," Claypool said. "But they [defenders] get paid a lot of money, too, and they're going to make plays. Obviously, those are plays I want back, and I want to make all those plays, but it's [an] unrealistic expectation."

Claypool said he wasn't aware of the criticism he received on social media until it was brought to his attention from family members.

"I didn't know people were dragging me through the mud until my family was texting me and checking up on me," he said. "I was a little confused when they did that. I don't go on Twitter. It's just a breeding ground for hate.

"I know what I have to fix. I don't need other people who think they know the game to tell me what I need to do. I definitely know exactly what I need to fix, and I made sure I did that this week."

Claypool believes he gave "one hundred percent" effort against the Bucs but offered an honest assessment of plays he wished he could have executed differently, admitting to thinking the Bears called a run play instead of a screen late in the game that resulted in a pass interference penalty that backed Chicago up to its own 6-yard line.

Trailing 20-17, the Bears' chances of a comeback were squashed whenJustin Fieldsthrew a pick-6 on a screen pass that was returned a short distance for a touchdown by Bucs linebacker Shaq Barrett.