Learning to win. Coaching to win. This column has written about it many times this season. The Bears had a 28-7 lead at home earlier this season and lost. This past weekend, the Detroit Lions trailed Chicago 26-14, with less than four minutes to play, and scored 17 points in the closing moments to defeat the Bears.
After the Denver game, players from the Broncos commented on how they could feel the momentum shift. Chicago was playing scared. It boosted their confidence as they came from behind. After Detroit sealed their comeback victory, Lions player echoed those sentiments, saying the Bears were playing not to lose.
On Thanksgiving, the Lions found themselves in an identical situation, trailing the Packers by two scores midway through the second half. Unlike the Bears’ lack of confidence late in games, Green Bay has had success in the 4th quarter this season. The Packers coaches stayed aggressive and found a way to win.
Green Bay was prepared for Detroit. They forced the Lions to throw underneath coverages, then stymied them on every fourth down. Detroit failed to pick up a first down on fourth down several times in the second half until the Lions’ last drive. By the time Detroit finally scored late in the 4th, they had run out of time.
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Chicago’s roster is young, and Matt Eberflus and Luke Getsy are only in their second year in such a position of authority. It has become painfully obvious they are coaching not to lose. Late in games, the defense is sticking to a personnel rotation when their best players should be on the field making plays.
These are all correctable mistakes that come with time and experience. Many fans and Bears beat writers simply do not believe this coaching staff will be allowed to continue with the team after the season is over. Many have been screaming for Poles to fire Eberflus since the Denver loss. In the comments section below, several readers will echo the need to fire Eberflus and Getsy.
It is a long seven weeks until Chicago’s season ends. Fans and writers may get their wish if the Bears continue to lose.
News and Notes
Since the Bears do not play until Monday, their first injury report wasn’t released until Thursday. Four players did not participate: Foreman (Ankle), Patrick (Back), Sewell (Knee), and Borom (Illness)
I blame the coaches for the Bears not having more wins. Sometimes I think they lose games to get a better draft choice in the future.
All correctable mistakes… but they won’t be. Seen this movie WAY too many times in the last 30 plus years of coaches and that includes Lovie Smith. Eberflus was an average coordinator that for some reason still believes the cover 2 is formidable in this day and age of offense favoring rules. He will Never change and if he did, I guarantee at crunch time he would go back into a shell.
Winning culture HAS to start from the top. As a society, we are programmed to listen to, act on, and do as our bosses or superiors tell us to do. Rarely do we have the knowledge or experience to simply ignore them, and do what is RIGHT to do. I’ve often told young people that they have to NOT be afraid of making mistakes . . . . and THEN, not make mistakes. You can’t grow, learn, develop or succeed, if you act in the opposite way (which is why I would support Fields despite his mistakes -and also believe… Read more »
The other issue at hand is that since the playoffs are not in play, you use that game situation to test Fields on how he would respond to where it was on him to move the sticks to win the game. Run the playbook where Detroit had to defend the entire field not just the line of scrimmage. They were clearly in a run blitz and stacked the box to stop the run. So why just play it conventionally there? Bagent was in a similar situation and they called a slant to get the 8 yards needed. They asked Fields… Read more »
Coaches, just like players, also need to learn and develop. And often times that take on the job training. It would be great if they came equipped with everything they’ll need to know when their hired, but that’s not realistic. Hopefully, fans will understand this as they call for some of these new hot coordinators who’ve barely learned to do their current jobs that they want to bump up to head coach. Just because a coordinator can make a young QB successful doesn’t mean they will know how to organize and run a successful football staff. Just because a coordinator’s… Read more »