The last thing anyone wanted to hear -after the Bears’ epic collapse against the Lions was coach Matt Eberflus evading pointed questions about what he should’ve done differently and, instead, filibustering with his greatest hits.
That’s exactly what he served up Monday, once again oblivious to or unconcerned with how poorly it would land after the 31-26 -debacle.
Eberflus vaguely took responsibility for his team throwing away a game in which it led by 12 with four minutes left but steered clear of anything specific. He described a mutual meltdown by players and coaches, and when asked for examples of what he should’ve handled differently, he responded, “In what respect?”
All of them.
There were many reasons the Bears fell apart, and they all trace back to him. And it wasn’t the first time something like this happened on his watch.
“You always look and say, ‘Should I have called this, should I have called that, should I be more aggressive here, less aggressive there?’ ” he said before pivoting to successful finishes against the Commanders, Raiders and Panthers — all bad teams. “You’ve got to have the right calls and put your guys in position. . . . It’s about making plays as a player.”
He also veered into an aside about maneuvers he made to give the Bears a chance against the Saints — another loss, of course — and said, “That was good execution by the players, and it was good calling by whoever the defensive coordinator was. That would be me.”
This is hardly the time to flex.
When pressed for regrets of his that cost the Bears against the Lions, Eberflus declined and said, “I’m not going to get into that because that would be talking to the next opponent.”
Everyone who watched that disaster -deserves a better answer.
If Eberflus is still growing into this job more than halfway through his second season, the Bears hired the wrong guy.
Just last month, Eberflus supervised the biggest blown lead in Bears history as the Broncos beat them 31-28 at Soldier Field despite the Bears being up by 21 points late in the third quarter. The Bears also squandered two-score leads in the fourth quarter at home against the Lions and Packers last season.
What happened to those “championship habits” as the Bears disintegrated Sunday? That was the primary purpose of last season, when the team plummeted to 3-14 as Eberflus insisted he was laying the foundation for the future. He assured that the infrastructure would be in place by the time the roster improved.
Well, the good players are here, and the Bears are still bad.
They’re 3-8 in a season when they dared to dream of a playoff berth, and Eberflus’ 6-22 record is the 13th-worst by any NFL coach who lasted at least 25 games. He has yet to beat an NFC North team or an opponent that had a winning record at the time and hasn’t won consecutive games.
The Bears couldn’t convert a third-and-not-even-one on Justin Fields’ quarterback sneak to begin the fourth quarter and settled for a field goal. They self-sabotaged opportunities for touchdowns in the second and third quarters, including one red-zone trip in which they had a first down at the Lions’ 17-yard line. They got a first down at the 26 with 6:20 left and ran three times for a total of five yards before kicking another field goal.
An extra few points here or there — or in merely one of those spots — would’ve changed the game. Fields would’ve been in victory formation at the end instead of taking a strip-sack as the ball skidded through the end zone for a safety.
As the Lions overtook them, some combination of defensive backs Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon and Eddie Jackson misplayed a deep ball when Jared Goff hit Jameson Williams for a 32-yard touchdown. On the Lions’ next touchdown drive, top pass rusher Montez Sweat was on the sideline for three consecutive plays, and by the time he returned, the Lions were at the Bears’ 7-yard line.
Sweat played 63% of the snaps, his lowest portion of playing time this season, in the name of keeping the defensive ends fresh by using a rotation. Top pass rushers typically play 80% or more of the game.
“Sweat’s one of our best players — he really is — [but] that’s just how we do it,” Eberflus said.
Maybe he should change how they do it.
Coaching is part of the pie chart on all the Bears’ problems.
In game management, Eberflus was too aggressive against the Broncos, then too conservative against the Lions. He can argue against judging his decisions based on the result rather than the process, but so many of his results have been negative that he doesn’t have the credibility to make that case.
These losses don’t just happen. They aren’t an uncontrollable external force like the weather. They’re built by mistakes.
Beyond the losses, two of Eberflus’ assistant coaches have exited because of non-football reasons, the disconnect between Fields and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy spilled into the public and there have been plenty of clumsy news conferences.
There’s too much piling up on the wrong side of the scale for Eberflus, and he’s trying to balance it out with “championship habits” and almost-wins.
