The Bears’ last five regular-season games could become a referendum on the Matt Eberflus era — where it is and which direction it’s heading. And playing the Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field is a perfect place to start.
Three weeks ago, the Bears were coming off an unimpressive victory against the woeful Panthers, eager to show they were heading in the right direction against a Super Bowl-contending team. A 31-26 loss to the Lions at Ford Field didn’t settle the matter either way.
For 55 minutes, the Bears looked like they had taken a huge step — intercepting Jared Goff three times, winning all three phases, dominating the third quarter and leading the Lions 26-14. But the Bears collapsed in the final 4:15, allowing two long touchdown drives to confirm the knock on Eberflus’ team that it doesn’t know how to win.
Now the Bears get a chance to get it right against the 9-3 Lions, but this time they’ll be at home and relatively refreshed after a late-season bye week. Quarterback Justin Fields, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and running Khalil Herbert, who were playing in their first game after returning from injuries, are now in their third game back. And defensive end Montez Sweat, who played 39 of 62 snaps (63%) in his third game with the Bears, is now in his fifth game and presumably that much more acclimated.
“You can feel a motivation and optimism,” Eberflus said. “And the focus and energy of our guys, you could feel that for sure at the walkthrough. The guys are wired in and want to perform well this week.”
Division rematches often are chess matches, with each coaching staff adjusting to previous strategies and anticipating its opponents’ adjustments. But this is a bigger test than that for the Bears. The Lions won a battle of wills in the first game.
Each time the matter was urgent, the Lions drove for a touchdown quickly and efficiently — a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took 96 seconds at the end of the first half, a six-play, 75-yard drive that took 76 seconds to close to 26-21 with 2:59 to play and an 11-play, 73-yard drive that took 2:04 to take a 31-26 lead with 29 seconds left.
The challenge for the Bears this time is obvious — finish. They did that in a 12-10 victory over the Vikings on Nov. 27 at U.S. Bank Stadium, driving 66 yards on 10 plays for Cairo Santos’ 30-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to win it. Now they have to do it again. And again.
“That’s obviously the focus,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “And despite what happened throughout the [Vikings] game, we were able to finish the game out. I think that’s a good step for us. If we can just carry what we did the first 56 minutes of the game against Detroit the first time and finish it out like we did against the Vikings, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Everything’s relative, but the Bears are trending upward. They’re 4-4 in their last eight games after an 0-4 start. They’re as healthy as they’ve been this season. And the addition of Sweat on Oct. 31 in a trade with the Commanders has sparked their pass rush.
“Definitely wish that first time we played them would’ve ended a little differently,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “But that’s the league, and the good thing is we get to play them here at our place.
“December football is where it’s decided. You’ve got to play your best ball, which is where we feel we’re at right now. We’ve got to keep getting better in every facet of the game. So we’re excited to see [the Lions], but we’re excited because it’s the next game, and we know these are important games.”
