Joyous, boyish cheering erupted from the home locker room for the first time in 13 months Sunday at Soldier Field when, after the Bears’ 30-12 victory against the Raiders, coach Matt Eberflus handed out game balls.
The first went to cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who, in the final year of his rookie contract and with the trade deadline looming, doubled his career interception total Sunday.
The next went to Tyson Bagent, the undrafted rookie quarterback whom the Bears prepared well enough to snap a franchise-long 10-game home losing streak.
The last one went to running back D’Onta Foreman, whom general manager Ryan Poles gave a one-year, $2 million deal during the offseason — and Eberflus made a healthy scratch in Weeks 2-5.
The victory meant a lot to each player — one trying to get paid (Johnson), another trying to find his footing (Foreman) and the third starting his first career NFL game (Bagent). It meant something to Eberflus, too: It was his second triumph in 17 days after having won three games in his head-coaching career to that point.
In a soul-crushing season, Sunday marked a delightful change of pace for the 2-5 Bears. But don’t confuse beating the Raiders and quarterback Brian Hoyer — whose last victory as a starter came when Bagent was 16 years old — for big-picture progress.
Eberflus has so much more to do to get to that point. He has the worst winning percentage in franchise history and never has won an NFC North game.
Much like injured quarterback Justin Fields, who is recovering from a dislocated right thumb, Eberflus is racing the clock to prove he belongs next season.
How he handles Fields in the coming weeks will be a challenge for a franchise not known for dancing nimbly through delicate situations. Fields is still the Bears’ starter, Eberflus said. His dislocated right thumb will be evaluated Monday, with the team hoping the swelling has subsided enough for him to grip a football. Fields wore a small brace on his right hand Sunday and was able to sign autographs.
Bagent won’t take Fields’ job — not now, anyway — but he was efficient enough for the Bears’ coaching staff to wonder whether he would be a better choice against the Chargers than Fields at, say, 70% strength.
The Chargers will be a much better measuring stick than the Raiders, who were the only team to lose to Colts interim coach Jeff Saturday — perhaps the most underqualified selection of his generation — last season. The Raiders also fell to the Rams last season, even though quarterback Baker Mayfield had only two days to prepare for the game after being claimed off waivers from the Panthers.
In retrospect, what was so remarkable about the Bears’ franchise-record 14-game losing streak under Eberflus — one that ended this month against the Commanders — was that it ran counter to a modern NFL in which an unlikely team wins somewhere in the country every week.
The Bears have been here before — in Week 7, no less. Last season, a downtrodden Bears team trudged into a matchup against the Patriots — who, like the Raiders, were 3-3 — on ‘‘Monday Night Football,’’ blew out coach Bill Belichick’s team 33-14, then didn’t win the rest of the season.
The Bears knew it was a false positive. Two days later, Poles traded defensive end Robert Quinn, who was less than a year removed from setting the team’s single-season sacks record, to the Eagles. Five days after that, Poles sent star linebacker Roquan Smith to the Ravens. The Bears’ defense never recovered, becoming the worst unit in the league the rest of the season.
Poles’ experience last season makes him think twice about selling off what few pieces he has to offer a competitive team via trade. He’s unlikely to move Johnson. He shouldn’t, however, make any decisions based on the game Sunday. The victory wasn’t predictive of future success.
Six weeks after Eberflus took over full-time play-calling duties because of coordinator Alan Williams’ departure, the Bears’ defense has settled down. They held the Raiders to 3.9 yards per play and spanked Hoyer to the tune of a 37.1 passer rating. Josh Jacobs, the NFL’s rushing leader last season, had only 35 yards on 11 carries.
The Bears’ blocking looked better with Teven Jenkins back at right guard. They averaged 4.6 yards per carry and allowed only two sacks, including one on a failed Hail Mary at the end of the first half.
Those gradual improvements can add up to something if they turn into a springboard against the Chargers and the next week against the Saints.
Otherwise, it will look a lot like the Bears’ victory last season against the Patriots: a brief diversion from a slow-moving, 18-week wreck.
