LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears defense had an opportunity to give the ball back to its offense by stopping the Minnesota Vikings on third-and-10 from their 21. Instead, it became the start of the end.
“On that last drive, period, they ran some good plays and caught us in tough situations in coverage,” safety Kevin Byard said Sunday after the Bears’ 30-27 overtime loss. “Yeah, it’s just tough.”
It started with Byard being in coverage against receiver Jordan Addison on that third down. He allowed too much cushion for Addison, who broke outside with a quick motion before the snap. The Bears pass rush also failed to fluster quarterback Sam Darnold. Addison made a 13-yard catch for a first down.
“We called a defense that we like on that particular situation,” coach Matt Eberflus said Monday. “With that, we just got to get down a little bit tighter on that in terms of where our alignments are. We got to affect them more with the rush on that one, too. Again, it’s about being in position, making good plays. It was one of our main calls that we always call.”
Eberflus’ calls aren’t working the way they worked over the second half of last season. His unit doesn’t look like a top-five unit but one that seemingly has lost the swagger that was much discussed during training camp.
If the Bears’ defensive slide continues, that will be what ends the Eberflus era. A head coach should always be judged by his areas of expertise, and Eberflus just happens to double as his defense’s play caller.
Darnold was 6-for-6 passing for 90 yards in overtime against the Bears. He had completions of 7 yards on second-and-17, 13 yards on third-and-10, 20 yards on first-and-15, 9 yards on first-and-20, 12 yards on second-and-11 and 29 yards on second-and-8.
“It’s about us putting ourselves in position, me as a coach and the players executing from there,” Eberflus said.
But this is a trend, one that’s likely to continue Thursday against the Detroit Lions. Eberflus’ defense is failing in key moments. Something has felt off for weeks. The hustle and tenacity aren’t the same.
Maybe the defense isn’t as good as everyone thought it would be this season. Maybe there have been too many injuries to get over, starting with defensive end Montez Sweat. Or maybe something broke when the Washington Commanders scored on their Hail Mary, and Eberflus has no answers for how to fix it.
During the Bears’ 4-2 start, the defense ranked seventh in yards per game, 15th in explosive plays (20-plus yards) allowed, seventh in sacks, second in opposing QB passer rating, sixth in third-down conversion percentage and third in defensive EPA/play (per TruMedia).
During the Bears’ five-game losing streak — which started against Washington because of that Hail Mary — their defense ranks 30th in yards per game, 28th in explosive plays allowed, 26th in sacks, 22nd in opposing QB rating, 12th in third-down conversion percentage and 16th in defensive EPA/play in that stretch. (The rankings from TruMedia don’t include Monday night’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers.)
“I would just say that we need to tighten up on the details and do things better,” Eberflus said. “There’s not a magic pill there. There never is. It’s just about tightening things up and doing it better as a group — coaches, players, all of us together. And if we do that, we’ll be OK.”
Are players being put in the right position to make plays?
“Yeah, for the most part,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. “Again, never perfect. I mean, there’s times we can get put in better positions at certain times of the game, but I mean, for the most part it’s on us to execute.”
The opposite is happening on offense. It’s time to officially track the budding relationship between quarterback Caleb Williams and new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.
After the loss to the Vikings, Williams explained that Brown has “a certain aura” to him.
“He just allows you to play free,” Williams said. “He knows what he wants, whether it’s checks, alerts, all of that.”
Brown has shown he can get through to Williams with his messaging. The latest example came in the fourth quarter against the Vikings with the Bears trailing by 11 points.
“That is what he tells me in the headset: ‘Go be Superman,’” Williams said.
And he did.
Brown’s body of work includes only two games against the Green Bay Packers and Vikings, but both teams have good defenses. Brown’s plan for the blitz-heavy Vikings included Williams changing his cadence to get a read on safety Harrison Smith.
“He’s such a savvy vet player,” Williams said. “He’s down at the line. Now he has to get out because I’ve used a couple cadences. I’ve used a couple cadences and helped the offensive line myself, everybody.”
Said receiver DJ Moore: “(It’s) just the plays that we got stacked on top of each other have been better. The flow of the game has been better. So I know it’s a collaboration that’s going on between him and all our offensive coaches, so that’s been good.”
Monday, Eberflus took credit for Brown’s hiring.
“Him and I have gotten along since the beginning,” Eberflus said. “I recruited him very hard because he was sought after. And we talked a lot on the phone, visited about the opportunities here. It was great to start that process with him. And then at the onset of this, he was the passing game coordinator; now he’s the offensive coordinator.”
Brown was the passing game coordinator because Eberflus hired Shane Waldron to be the Bears’ offensive coordinator. If anything, Eberflus deserves credit for firing Waldron midseason and turning the offense over to Brown.
It’s a very non-Bears-like move that worked. The team appears to have a good, young coach in Brown. General manager Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren should be watching him closely. Brown is a promising play caller who exudes head-coach vibes.
“He’s definitely different,” Moore said. “He definitely speaks and motivates you and everything. When he’s up in front of the offense, we want to go out there and play our best football for him. He’s going to call the game, and we’ve just got to go out there and execute.”
(Top photo of Jordan Addison and Jonathan Owens: Mike Dinovo / Imagn Images)
