Matt Eberflus has been a head coach, at any level, for a total of six games. But he’s already got his first legitimate losing streak: three games — and counting — entering the “Monday Night Football” game at the Patriots.
If two is a coincidence and three is a trend, what would four losses mean? Five? Six? The Bears could soon find out — they won’t be favored in any of their next three games.
Eberflus, though, isn’t sweating. That’s not his way.
“His ability to keep a steady head through this whole thing and kinda keep us level and project his message to the leaders of the team, and display that every day, is a good thing for us,” tight end Cole Kmet said.
That’s hard to do in a zero-sum league, even for rebuilding teams. That became clear minutes after the Bears’ loss to the Commanders last week, when quarterback Justin Fields said he was tired of being told the Bears were “almost there.” Eberflus had a long talk with him the next day.
“He’s a leader,” Fields said of Eberflus. “I think the way he’s handled [the streak], the way he’s been talking to our team, I think he’s just positively tried to make it a positive thing, rather than a negative thing.
“Of course you can look back, ‘Oh, we’re on a losing streak, this and that.’ But at the end of the day, that’s over. Whatever today’s date is, that’s what it is. And, of course, we play the Patriots on Monday night, so that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Eberflus strives for steadiness. At the start of the season, general manager Ryan Poles listed that among the traits he loved about his hand-picked head coach.
“He is consistent,” Poles said. “His message is clear. There is no gray area.”
It’s easy to be consistent in August, though, before they start keeping score. While there’s no handbook for steering out of a losing streak. Eberflus studied how to deal with low points from mentor Gary Pinkel, for whom he worked at Toledo and Missouri
“The one thing I learned from Gary was, man, you have to stay the course,” he said. “What do you stand for? What are your principles? And you better stand on top of those. And you have your eyes forward all the time.”
When Pinkel left Toledo after the 2000 season, he brought Eberflus to Missouri as his defensive coordinator. They went 4-7 in Year 1 and 5-7 in Week 2. In their third year, the Tigers went 8-5 and beat Nebraska for the first time in 25 tries.
“That was a tough go for a while,” Eberflus said. “But what we got was, we ended up doing a nice job of recruiting. We got a guy by the name of Brad Smith, who really turned the program around. It really goes back (to) acquiring players, and also coaching your butt off. Just keep staying the course.”
To paraphrase Rick Pitino, Smith — who starred at quarterback for four years — isn’t walking through the door at Halas Hall this season. If the Bears improve this season, it likely will be because their players develop — and not because they’ve added new talent.
That leaves Eberflus to try to make the best of what he’s got.
“He preaches the same things,” running back Khalil Herbert said. “A lot of the time, when we lose, we’re not doing the things he’s preaching. He’s hammering those things.”
But he’s not panicking.
“There’s a lot at stake here — that’s no secret — for everybody,” Kmet said. “Players, coaches, everybody. ….
“It’s frustrating, but you’ve gotta try to bring yourself to the middle. Whether you’re on a win streak or losing streak, you’ve gotta keep yourself hovering in the middle.”
