Bears coach Matt Eberflus sounded like he was ready to rethink anything and everything after steering the team to one of its most disheartening losses in recent memory.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what was the worst part about losing 12-7 to the Commanders on Thursday.
Was it the meager point total? Getting inside the opponent’s 5-yard line and failing to score three times? Seeing across-the-board malfunctions on offense, ranging from poor protection to a head-scratching game plan?
Or the underlying embarrassment of such a pitiful performance coming at home against a really bad team?
There are countless other nominations, but the bottom line is that it looked like the low point of the Eberflus era. Hopefully for him, it was.
The first five games weren’t quite spectacular, either, so it’s imperative that Eberflus and his staff — especially offensive coordinator Luke Getsy — use this break to consider every possible alternative that would prevent the rest of this season from being totally -unwatchable.
The Bears got saddled with the latest possible bye, Week 14, but they have a rare 10 full days between their debacle against the Commanders and their Oct. 24 Monday night game at the Patriots.
Don’t underestimate the challenge of that game, by the way, just because the Patriots are 2-3. That will be the most complex, deceptive defense quarterback Justin Fields has ever faced.
Anyway, the key to making meaningful changes is being realistic about what’s wrong. Very little about this 2-4 start is worth clinging to, and the Bears are absolutely not “right there” on the cusp of being a good team, as Eberflus said after losing to the Commanders.
The Bears don’t have to be a good team this season. They’re in the first year of a major rebuild from the mess Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy left behind. But just because there are no serious expectations of the team doesn’t mean there aren’t expectations of Eberflus. Of course the Bears aren’t ready to compete for a Super Bowl, but Eberflus needs to show that they’re at least taking small steps in that direction.
If general manager Ryan Poles and chairman George McCaskey are looking for confirmation that they hired the right coach, they should watch closely during this break. Making adjustments is a huge part of the job, and based on the first six weeks, Eberflus needs to make a lot of them.
The offense should be his priority, and it’s a difficult problem to solve for someone who had spent 30 years exclusively coaching defense. Being able to figure that out is the difference between a coordinator and a head coach.
Under Getsy, with Eberflus’ supervision, the Bears are 29th in scoring at 15.5 points per game. The offense somehow has regressed from the score-17-points-and-pray-it’s-enough days under Nagy. It’s averaging just 5.3 yards per play.
They’re the sixth-worst team on third down, converting just 35.6%. Getsy said the goal is 48% because that would typically be tops in the NFL. There’s a mountain to climb from where the Bears sit to the league-leading Bills (55.7%) and Chiefs (52.5%).
Fields has the second-worst passer rating in the league at 72.7, half a point below his rookie season. The Bears are near the top of the NFL in rushing (170.8 yards per game and 5.2 per carry), but that’s not getting them very far when opponents know that’s the only thing they do well.
All the questions about Poles’ offseason moves and non-moves at wide receiver and on the offensive line have proven to be as problematic as everyone expected. Fields hasn’t made significant improvements, and the personnel around him is only making that tougher.
Eberflus and his staff have no choice but to make the best of it. He must be able to take players Poles gives him and add value through development. There aren’t many shining examples of that.
That’s true on defense, too. And it shouldn’t be. If nothing else, Eberflus should be masterful on that side of the ball. He should be able to take a less-than-ideal roster and scheme it into something viable.
At first it looked like he was pulling off that magic trick, but the collapse of the run defense has undone the Bears. They’re allowing 163 yards rushing per game, 29th in the league. The Commanders averaged 4.6 yards per carry, up from 3.9 over their first five games.
The pass rush isn’t getting sacks. Star linebacker Roquan Smith has been closer to good than great, and Eberflus was supposed to be launching him into a new stratosphere.
And then there’s the rookie class. No coach wants to rely on rookies, but Eberflus knew that would be a big piece of the job when he took it. Poles drafted cornerback Kyler Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker in the second round expecting Eberflus to turn them into pillars of the future. Brisker has been great, but Gordon has a long way to go.
Wide receiver Velus Jones (third round) and left tackle Braxton Jones (fifth) are off to unconvincing starts. At least they found a top-10 punter in seventh-rounder Trenton Gill. They need him.
But it doesn’t have to stay this way. A rough start doesn’t mean Eberflus can’t turn it around. He has to be a problem solver, and this break gives him the opportunity to change course before it’s too late.
