A day after his Chicago Bears fell behind by 41 points in the third quarter on the way to their 13th consecutive loss, Matt Eberflus somehow found a silver lining in reviewing the team’s performance against the Kansas City Chiefs on video.
“I think we’re real close,” Eberflus said Monday at Halas Hall. “I really do. I know a lot of people say, ‘It’s a far ways away.’ I don’t believe that. I think we’re close. And I think it’s more about the details of the individual person.”
“If we just keep doing that right, good things are going to happen.”
With the Bears heading into October at 0-3 and showing so few signs of noticeable improvement, Eberflus will get plenty of outside pushback on that sentiment. His big challenge now is making sure he retains buy-in from players as the Bears work to grab their first win since last fall.
Here are three things we learned Monday in Lake Forest.
That’s hardly a new angle but one the Bears coaches are hoping can ignite something significant as they look ahead to this weekend’s game against a struggling Broncos team. Eberflus used Monday’s team meeting to reiterate his directive.
“It’s really micro-ing it down to the individual,” he said. “How can we focus and get the details right at each position? That’s what execution is. That’s what executing at a high level is. That’s what the good teams do. They have focus every single play at every position — doing their job with speed and being physical. That’s what it takes to win in this league.”
Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus walks the sideline in the fourth quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Through three games, the Bears are allowing an average of 35.3 points with the defense recording only one sack. Their first two takeaways of the season came Sunday — interceptions off Chiefs backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert long after the game was out of reach.
The Bears offense, meanwhile, ranks 27th in points scored. Quarterback Justin Fields is coming off a performance in which he threw for only 99 yards with the Bears netting 87 passing yards on 25 plays.
For a coach who has preached the importance of being detail-oriented since the day he was hired, Eberflus was asked why that is still an area where he sees his team lacking.
“We always focus on detail,” he said. “I’m just reemphasizing (it) so we get improvement. You focus on things you need to get improvement on. And that’s what we need to get improvement on at this time.”
Chicago Bears running back Roschon Johnson is tackled by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Eberflus was asked how he will work to retain buy-in from his locker room when the results are what they have been and the successes are so few and far between.
Rookie running back Roschon Johnson weighed in on that topic as well and stressed the need for players to stay united.
“Regardless of what the coaches say, regardless of how we take it, I think our main thing is to address the mistakes within us,” Johnson said. “So that’s being real with ourselves within each position group and holding each other accountable regardless of what anybody else says first. I feel like that’s how you ultimately grow and ultimately see changing results. It’s when you know the person that is actually playing next to you is holding you to a higher standard than anybody else.”
Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is shaken up in the first quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Stevenson left the field in the first quarter after a collision near the goal line with Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco, which included a spill into a camera along the sideline. Stevenson was originally said to have a neck injury and returned to the game. But he left the field again with the Bears announcing he was being evaluated for a concussion. Later in the afternoon, it was announced by the team that the rookie cornerback was questionable to return with an illness.
“It was weird,” Eberflus said. “They told me both things — in terms of he was in concussion protocol but it really ended up being a neck (issue) and he never got checked for concussion protocol. It was really just his neck is all it was.”
As for the illness?
“I don’t remember from yesterday exactly what it was,” Eberflus said. “Was it ‘illness’?”
Told by a team spokesman that was Sunday’s final designation, Eberflus nodded.
“It was illness,” he said. “We’re not trying to hide anything. They said it was that. That’s what it is.”