Bears coach Matt Eberflus needs to make corrections, starting with QB Justin Fields

As the Bears sit 2-4, it’s not all bad, but there were many deficiencies to address this week.

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A photo of Bears coach Matt Eberflus on the sideline during the game against the Commanders.

The Bears are 31st in scoring and 11th in points allowed under coach Matt Eberflus in his first season.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

There really isn’t much to hide when it comes to what has gone so wrong for the wayward Bears. No need to break out a magnifying glass to search for the deficiencies.

But coach Matt Eberflus insisted on keeping the findings of his thorough internal review mostly confidential. There’s a lot wrong — and Eberflus has plans to fix it — but the most the Bears revealed Tuesday was that it was high time to cut end-of-the-roster receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette and give that spot to practice-squad receiver Isaiah Coulter.

It’ll take much more than that.

Eberflus highlighted obvious concerns, including the dreadful run defense, and quarterback Justin Fields stood most prominently among them. He has played exactly one game this season that inspired optimism about his future as the franchise quarterback; the other five were littered with red flags.

Eberflus and his staff held performance reviews with everyone on the roster Tuesday, and while he reiterated he didn’t want to divulge anything from those discussions — ‘‘I’m not going to give away anything for, obviously, competitive purposes’’ — he made it clear he wants to see better footwork and quicker decisions from Fields.

‘‘You can make small, incremental improvements as you go,’’ Eberflus said. ‘‘That’s with anybody. You can learn to read your keys and see what the coverages are faster. You can identify that pre-snap [and] post-snap a little bit faster.’’

Coming off a potential breakthrough performance against the Vikings, Fields stumbled last week against the Commanders. He went 14-for-27 for 190 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception for a 71.5 passer rating. He also ran 12 times for 88 yards as the Bears lost 12-7.

Of the 31 quarterbacks who have thrown at least 100 passes this season, Fields is 30th in passer rating (72.7), 31st in completion percentage (54.8) and 29th in yardage (869). He also has the NFL’s highest interception rate, with 4.3% of his passes getting picked off.

As they love to say at Halas Hall, however, it’s not just Fields’ fault; it’s a cluster of interconnected problems.

When Eberflus asks Fields to speed up his process in the pocket, it’s not easy for him to hurry through the decision-making flow chart.

Did the offensive line give him any protection? If not, there’s no choice but to take off running.

Did the receivers run the correct routes and get open? If not, hit the gas again.

And all those ongoing hindrances are rooted in choices by general manager Ryan Poles, Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. The Bears’ 2-4 record isn’t some misfortune that befell them; they’re the architects of it.

Poles was frugal in his teardown of former GM Ryan Pace’s roster. While it made sense to free up money for the future, it would be imprudent for him to go so cheap on the offensive line and at wide receiver that Fields’ development would be hampered. But that certainly seems to be the case.

‘‘You’ve always got to look at each play and say, ‘OK, what was [the problem]?’ ’’ Eberflus said. ‘‘And do we maximize our guys to make plays? And we’re looking at all those things right now.’’

But he needs solutions. Former coach Matt Nagy always was looking at things. He always was going to get back to everybody when he finally found ‘‘the whys.’’ He’s no longer a head coach.

The expectations for this Bears season — at the onset of a rebuild — are reasonable. No one’s demanding they even finish with a winning record. But Eberflus is under constant evaluation and must show he’s improving the team and facilitating Fields’ growth. Whatever the condition of the roster, standards still apply. The Bears don’t have to be great right now, just respectable.

They haven’t been, and their next three opponents — the Patriots on Monday, followed by the Cowboys and Dolphins — have the potential to embarrass them if Eberflus’ top-secret plans don’t work quickly.

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