The talk going into Sunday was loud. Justin Fields and Matt Eberflus looked like two men trudging towards their inevitable dooms. Both struggled from inconsistency, 4th quarter collapses, and an inability to win. Many felt the rematch with the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field would make or break them. Incredibly, both men answered the bell at the perfect time. Fields threw for 223 yards, ran for 58, and delivered two touchdowns, including the beautiful go-ahead strike to D.J. Moore in the second half. Eberflus did his part by revving up a Chicago Bears defense that smothered Jared Goff all afternoon, sacking him four times and picking him off twice.
Chicago steamrolled Detroit in the second half, allowing zero points and scoring 18 unanswered. It exorcised a lot of demons from that painful collapse a few weeks ago at Ford Field. Even more encouraging was the play of so many Ryan Poles draft picks. Gervon Dexter notched his first sack after weeks of close calls. Jaquan Brisker was everywhere, racking up an absurd 17 tackles. Tyrique Stevenson had a pass defense. Roschon Johnson was great in pass protection again. This roster is coming together.
Now, the two men at the top are starting to show their mettle.
Justin Fields and Matt Eberflus silenced a lot of critics.
A month ago, the running joke with them was an inability to execute in the 4th quarter. Fields would suffer from turnovers. Eberflus’ defense couldn’t hold leads. They also couldn’t beat divisional opponents. Now in the space of three weeks, they’ve done all three. Fields overcame two ugly fumbles in Minnesota to engineer a winning field goal drive. That was set up by a big stop by the defense. Then against Detroit, Fields delivered two big TD drives in the second half and didn’t turn it over. Eberflus kept his foot on the gas defensively, hounding Goff until the final whistle.
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They’ve now beaten division rivals in two straight games. The Bears are 5-8 and are two painful 4th quarter collapses from being 7-6. This team might be better than people realized. Excitement is building for the first time in what feels like years. Four games remain. Next is a trip to Cleveland against a tough Browns team headlined by their top five defense. Pulling out a win there would set up back-to-back home games against the weak Cardinals and Falcons. There is a serious chance for Justin Fields and Matt Eberflus to pull this team even at 8-8 going into Lambeau Field for the season finale.
Fields sucks. This will be great when the Bears unload him.
@joiha, I don’t think Mooney is moving or making his cuts as well as he did last year before he got hurt. I still think he could be a good slot receiver though.
One odd observation that I think I’m noticing is Fields may not be adjusting his throws to his receivers’ skills and/or preferences. It might sound strange, but he and D.J. are so locked in (146 passer rating when throwing to Moore), I think he might be throwing to all of his receivers the same way he throws to Moore and that’s creating issues for everyone not named D.J. or Cole. One of the most alarming developments for me this year is the loss of chemistry with Mooney. They used to be BFFs. Now Mooney is sparsely getting targets and when… Read more »
Great win today. If the Bears finishes the year strongly and Poles decides to continue rocking with Fields, just know he’s going to work his ass off in the offseason again. Regardless of who the OC is next year, I expect Fields to take another step next year. While I expected to see Fields play better from the beginning of the season, I did mention before the season starteed that Fields doesn’t have to take the proverbial leap all in one season. We’ve seen him improve over the course of this season. Imagine if he minimizes his flaws and takes… Read more »
I want to float out an amusing thought. Mind you, I’m not predicting this, or even saying it’s likely. The best that I can say is that it’s not mathematically impossible. Bears win out, and squeak into the playoffs at 9-8. Then they win out in the playoffs, winning the Super Bowl. Not bloody likely, no, it isn’t. But it’s possible, and as a Bears fan, that feels good, unlike last year where I was actively engaged in, but not rooting for, the Bears to lose. Plus it would be cool to have the #1 and #32 picks in the… Read more »