CLEVELAND — This should be the last time general manager Ryan Poles needs to see the Bears fall apart to grasp that they need significant changes if they’re ever going to live up to his vision of championship contention.
They lost 20-17 to the Browns after leading by 10 in the fourth quarter, and that was a fitting way for their playoff dream to fizzle as they inched to the brink of elimination and guaranteed the franchise’s fifth consecutive non-winning season.
Poles and the Bears should spend less time fuming about how close this was and more on why it ever got close. This loss — like epic collapses against the Broncos and Lions — illustrated how far away they are, not how close.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus provided no reassurance when he explained the way his team crumbled as, “It comes down to the fundamentals … and it’ll be about playmaking.”
Eberflus oversaw a defense that dominated for stretches but had devastating lapses when it mattered most. And the combination of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and quarterback Justin Fields got the Bears nowhere.
Poles walked silently through the locker room as players packed their gear with minimal conversation. It had to sting, Sunday and for the season at large, to see that the Bears weren’t nearly as good as he thought.
And now he must weigh whether he’s willing to bet his Bears career on Eberflus, Getsy and Fields.
This offseason will make or break Poles’ tenure, and he needs to look at this team —players and coaches — with clear judgment. He’s in line to get the No. 1 pick in the draft via the Panthers, and the Bears are headed toward a high pick themselves. It’s the -perfect chance to pivot.
Eberflus has run the defense well lately, but a coach is responsible for everything. The Getsy-Fields mess is on him, too.
Those two are a bad match. Definitively. Whether Getsy is scheming around Fields or hindering him, this doesn’t work. Fields said Sunday his goal is to score 28 points, but the Bears have done that in just seven of his 25 starts under Getsy.
“There’s many games we want back, many plays we want back,” Fields said. “But all in all, everyone is giving their best.”
But that’s also the problem: This is their best.
Fields went 19-for-40 for 166 yards with a touchdown pass, two interceptions on Hail Mary passes and a fumble he was fortunate not to lose. And that’s hardly an outlier.
In answering for an offense that punted or turned the ball over on downs on 11 of 15 possessions and went three-and-out eight times, he said, “I should’ve been better, and we’ve got to be better as a whole.”
He can only say that for so long.
As losses stacked up, the best thing Poles and players have said about Eberflus is that he gets maximum effort. That also hasn’t been enough, and it’s not even clear whether he got it Sunday.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney lamented offensive players’ complacency when the Bears led 17-7 in the third and said they became “just lackadaisical and just conservative.” That’s jarring for a team that already had two humiliations on its record.
“Everybody was just happy that we [were] winning,” Mooney said. “We’ve got to be -aggressive and continue to put our foot on the pedal. Just go out there and punch ’em. Can’t get too comfortable; that’s what kind of bit us. We tried to switch gears in the fourth quarter once they scored. It’s hard to do that.”
Eberflus responded, “Our guys were wired in.”
Three losses like this — two after the team supposedly had righted itself — is too many to brush off as random.
Eberflus, Getsy and Fields comprise the core of this team, and they sunk the Bears on Sunday. Poles must decide if he’s willing to keep risking that.
