The final sequence of the Chicago Bears’ loss in Washington remains burned into the memories of fans even three days after it happened. Caleb Williams leads a go-ahead touchdown drive and hits a two-point conversion to make it 15-12. The Commanders get the ball and drive to their 48-yard line, aided by some conspicuously soft coverage calls by head coach Matt Eberflus. Then on the final play, they hit a 52-yard Hail Mary for the win. It was gutwrenching, and nobody was more upset about it than Caleb Williams.
Mind you, it wasn’t just because the quarterback hates losing. Based on emerging information, it is because he seemed to recognize that Eberflus wasn’t on top of everything. One big example everybody came on the second-to-last play of the game. The head coach was distracted by how the defense was aligned that he was starting to drift onto the field. This would’ve resulted in a costly penalty. Williams, aware of this, rushed to pull his coach back to the sideline. It was a timely display of intelligence by the rookie QB.
It didn’t stop there with Caleb Williams.
After Washington converted that play for 13 yards with six seconds left, the Bears set up for the Hail Mary. Again, the quarterback noticed a problem. This time, it was cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who was busy jabbering at fans in the back corner near the end zone with his back to the play. Williams is seen waving at him to get back to his assigned spot before the ball is snapped. Stevenson didn’t turn around until the play was five seconds into progress. By that time, the guy he was supposed to cover, wid receiver Noah Brown, had already found a lane into the end zone.
Williams’ reaction when Brown caught the tipped pass says it all.
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What does it say when the quarterback has better situational awareness than the head coach? Caleb Williams was on top of everything in those final moments. He led the go-ahead drive, prevented a huge penalty, and knew Stevenson was out of position. Yet Eberflus didn’t, and he had timeouts to spare. Those kinds of mistakes lose you games.
it seems like Flus lost track of time (failed to call time out near end of game as commanders were gaining momentum) and lost track of players on field positions (Tyrique) otherwise a completely different outcome if Flus had used one of the three time outs and later if Tyrique should have been pulled out. HC lacking skills sets.
It says we have the wrong head coach.
I think it’s awesome that the rookie QB has this awareness! Shows how far they will go by following him, and the leadership instincts he possesses. Flus is a great Defensive coach. Without him, we would have been down 20+ points in that game. Since Sweat has been acquired, the Bears are 9-7, which is a far cry from the overall number that was continually posted when the entire team was devoid of talent. Were the last two play calls horrible, and were major mistakes made? Yes! But I don’t think any other coach could have held that team together… Read more »
HC Flus is definitely NOT even close to Andy Reid or other top coaches in game awareness, and that lack of being a true field general has cost the Bears several games they should have won!
It’s sad when a rookie QB has more sense than the head coach.
What does it say? It says that you have the right quarterback. The problem is several things. Right now, he’s still a rookie, so it’s a matter of everyone else accepting that you know what’s going on because the rookie even if you’re great, you’re still a rookie, and they actually have well above avg receivers right now. The problem is the offiensive line. Did anybody notice on Sun, there was multiple backups on the O-line going in and out of the game because of various people being hurt to the point where Kiran Amadiganjie played lots of minutes ,… Read more »