Patriots head coach Bill Belichick could have passed George Halas in career wins Monday night. Papa Bear’s heirs, though, are thrilled he didn’t do it against their team — and told Bears head coach Matt Eberflus as much.
Belichick entered Monday night’s game tied with Halas for the second-most coaching wins all-time, with 324. The Bears, though, pulled a 33-14 stunner to keep Belichick from passing the Bears founder. Members of the Bears’ ownership group thanked him afterward.
“Yeah, I had a couple comments from the McCaskey family on that,” Eberflus said with a smile Tuesday. “And they were all pleased with that.”
Belichick will pass Halas soon enough, and then will take aim at Dolphins legend Don Shula’s all-time record of 347.
On the field after the game, Belichick and Eberflus embraced each other while the two chatted. The Bears coach said he wanted to keep the specifics of their conversation private, but said he was flattered.
“I can just generalize and say that he was complimentary of the way we’re doing things and what we’re building here,” Eberflus said.
Second-half shutout
The Bears pitched a second-half shutout Monday night, keeping their total points allowed in the final two quarters at 35 points — or five per game. Only two teams have allowed fewer — the Bills has given up 17 points in six games and the Bengals have allowed 27 in seven.
By comparison, 15 NFL teams have allowed at least double the Bears’ 35 points in the second half.
That’s a good early return for Eberflus, who spent the offseason and training camp preaching stamina for the end of the games.
“When you work at something and you say something over and over again it’s just words until you actually put it into action,” Eberflus said. “And the action starts with work. So the ability to work in practice, in training camp, all the way leading you up to this, where we are right now, puts you in a position to have that mental and physical stamina to be able to focus in the second half.
“That’s an important part of what we are building here — and it’s always going to be that way.”
This and that
• In his first game with the Bears, receiver N’Keal Harry played 42 percent of the team’s snaps. He caught a 14-yard pass on his only target and laughed when he was booed. Harry, a former first-round pick of the Patriots, was dealt to the Bears in July.
“I knew it was going to be that type of reaction to me in general,” he said. “Patriots fans, they just have always given me a hard time. I learned early on to block that out.”
• Eberflus made no excuses for defensive tackle Mike Pennel, who was ejected for an illegal blindside block during Roquan Smith’s fourth-quarter interception that resulted in center David Andrews being checked for a concussion.
“Totally in the wrong,” he said. “He should not do that. And I told him right afterward. And that’s not what we teach. We don’t teach that. It’s not good football.”
