Like it or not, credit must be given where it’s due. Matt Eberflus looked like a dead man walking a few weeks ago when the Chicago Bears suffered another painful 4th quarter collapse in Detroit. It was the latest example of his team’s inability to finish. People started having conversations about replacing him out in the open. He was even asked about his job security. To his credit, he didn’t take the bait. Yet it remained obvious the head coach was under intense pressure.
Eberflus didn’t flinch. His team came out the next week and won a tough defensive battle in Minnesota 12-10. Then, after a much-needed week off, the Bears got their rematch with Detroit at Soldier Field. After falling behind 13-10 in the first half, two Justin Fields touchdowns and a second-half shutout by the defense led to a 28-13 signature win. It would’ve been easy for Eberflus to take credit after the way his defense has played lately, but the real secret to the Bears 5-4 record in the past nine games comes from the work he and GM Ryan Poles did in the off-season.
It comes from the types of players they’ve been bringing in.
“That’s amazing. And what Brisker brings is the reason why we drafted him. (General manager Ryan Poles) and I always talked about guys we’d acquire and bringing in, they have to love football.
“Because what does that does, that love of football, it brings the passion and the juice to everybody else. If we get enough guys like that, which we have a bunch of guys like that, you can tangibly see that on the field. You can feel that energy, right? And that’s what he is. We just have to keep bringing guys like that in here and doing a great job evaluating. And Ryan and his crew are definitely doing that…
…The guys are super excited, but we could feel this coming. The improvement was happening over time, and I just kept telling them, if you keep doing right, it’s going to be right and good things are going to happen.”
Matt Eberflus is correct.
His coaching on defense has been solid, but the truth is the product on the field is simply better. Poles has brought in a steady stream of talented pieces since he took over last year. It started with Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, and Braxton Jones last year. Then came D.J. Moore, Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, Darnell Wright, Gervon Dexter, Tyrique Stevenson, and Montez Sweat. Piece by piece, the Bears have assembled a young, athletic, and talented core of players. The best part is all of them exhibit what Eberflus described: a love for football.
That was often a problem with previous versions of the Bears. They’d have talent, but several players apparently lacked the passion and intensity required to beat good teams in the NFL. Poles recognized it when he took over the GM job. That is why he decided to blow up the roster and start from scratch. We’re starting to see a vision of what he and Matt Eberflus wanted. The results speak for themselves. Chicago is 5-8, but they should probably be 7-6. Things are trending in the right direction.
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Forget stats and metrics, the game turned in our favor when he flashed Blue Steel. Wait and see. It’s gonna win us a SB next year.
The audio portion of Eberlus in the locker room is silent. Tried it on two different browsers.
The Bears this season are looking more and more like the Lions of last season. We are still a season behind them in the rebuild but dominated them except for about 10 minutes out of 120. I’m excited to see these young players continue to grow and can’t wait to see what they do in free agency and the draft after they cut Whitehair and Jackson. We also can’t forget that if Ian Cunningham gets a gm job that we get another draft pick the year afterwards… keep building up that draft capital
We are now seeing the difference in approaches from GM Ryan Pace to GM Ryan Poles. Pace was good at plugging holes and adding great veterans to keep the Bears competitive. He would trade away draft choices for these veteran players and the team soon became old. But Ryan Poles is rebuilding the team from the ground up and while that’s going to take more time it may prove to be more effective. We are already seeing some of these young players show what that potential can be. By 2024 they will be much more competitive and by year four… Read more »
There was no sudden turnaround. It’s been a slow painstaking rebuild where little by little the Bears are looking better. I think it was Cincinnatti that went from worst to first a couple years ago. That, was a sudden turn around. Bears are only 5-8 with one of the easiest schedules in the league. And they are still looking to fill the hardest position in football to find (QB) away from being a true contender. It’s simply amazing that Eberflus has held this team from having a melt down over the past couple years. He deserves another shot at it… Read more »