Bears coach Matt Eberflus joked last week he’d compensate for the injury to edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue thusly: “blitz every snap.” He didn’t do that Sunday, but he did blitz on the most important play of the 20-17 loss.
On third-and-15 from the Browns’ 47 with the game tied and 56 seconds left, Eberflus blitzed cornerback Kyler Gordon, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and safety Jaquan Brisker. Defensive tackle Justin Jones dropped into coverage, and quarterback Joe Flacco dropped a pass over his head, to tight end David Njoku, who turned and ran upfield for a 34-yard gain.
Eberflus wanted to blitz to draw a quick throw from Flacco, but he backpedaled and floated the pass to buy time for Njoku.
“It’s a play that’s designed to get the ball spit out fast and tackle them,” he said Monday.
Did he regret it?
“I’ve been calling defenses for 12 years, 13 years now, and every game you have three or four that you want back … ” he said. “Of course you’d like to see it work in that situation, but it didn’t.”
The play “hurt,” Edmunds said.
“Anytime you are out there on the field and have a chance to close out the game you want to close it out,” he said. “But the truth of it is the game didn’t come down to just that play.”
This and that
• Eberflus pushed back on Mooney’s claim that Bears offensive players were too comfortable playing with a lead in the third quarter.
“I don’t believe our guys do that,” he said. “In fact, I know they don’t. We just gotta keep the hammer down.”
Tight end Cole Kmet said comfort had nothing to do with it.
“We just weren’t executing, man,” he said.
• Defensive end Dominique Robinson, who’d been a healthy scratch since late October, played 28% of the Bears snaps in place of Ngakoue. Defensive end DeMarcus Walker played 78% of the time, too, way above his season average of 66%.
