LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears are leading the league in team meetings. Or, at least the ones we hear about.
Linebacker T.J. Edwards said on 670 the Score on Tuesday, “We weren’t sugarcoating anything. Stuff that was said, I’ll keep that in-house. But I think it was just very genuine and real.”
Coach Matt Eberflus downplayed the idea that Monday’s meeting was anything more than usual team meetings.
“That was like any after-action report when we win or lose the game,” he said. “That to me is good. Really good meetings to have. Sometimes I’ll open the floor. Sometimes I’ll ask a guy questions about a situation in the game or whatever it might be as we’re watching the tape all together. It’s various things. But our team meetings are productive.”
After Week 3, it was a group of offensive players sitting down with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Last week, it was a captains meeting about players going public with feelings about in-game decisions. This week, it was, apparently, a frank discussion about the team not being good enough.
“Just an understanding of we’re at a point where we got to put a good product on the field,” Edwards said Wednesday. “We got to go win games and we got to do good things throughout the week to get that thing going, but also it matters what we do on Sunday.”
Fixing the Caleb-to-DJ connection
In addition to those conversations, quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver DJ Moore have to get on the same page. Last year’s leading receiver with Justin Fields at the helm, Moore has 37 catches for 374 yards with Williams. His catch percentage has dropped 16 points since Week 8 of last season.
“Obviously it’s not in a place — from the past games — a place where we would like it,” Williams said. “It’s frustrating because you’ve got a guy that’s so special and not being able to connect and hit on certain passes is frustrating for myself. And I know it’s frustrating for him because as a wide receiver, especially, you only get but so many chances, so many times the ball comes your way in a game. … I wouldn’t put it past him that it’s frustrating, but we’ve got to figure it out. That’s the whole point about football is figuring out why things are certain ways and finding ways to overcome or get better at them.”
This was a concern earlier in the season, too, before Moore had 105 yards receiving and two scores against the Panthers.
He has 80 receiving yards combined and zero touchdowns in the three games since.
“Just knowing who we’re going against, the one-on-one matchups that we might have throughout the game and then understanding on the back end, the reads and where we’re at in situations, where he’s going through the read and how fast I’ve got to be or how slow I’ve got to be to stay in his vision,” Moore said. “That’s the little details I can think of.”
Moore said he didn’t really know why he and Fields were so productive right away and why that hasn’t happened with Williams. One theory he floated was simply Fields being more experienced versus Williams being a rookie.
In Arizona, Williams threw a back-shoulder pass toward Moore when his receiver was expecting something different.
“I think it comes down to talking and communicating more,” Williams said about that miss. “We talk all the time, we laugh and joke all the time, but I think talking a little bit more and communicating a little bit more about the specifics of ways I see it and the ways he sees it, ways he’s seeing it and then keep going from there.”
When a team is struggling like the Bears are, we also spend Wednesdays at Halas Hall litigating body language, like Moore leaving the field mid-play against Arizona. He said he rolled his ankle on the play.
Big loss on D-line
The Bears have slipped the most on defense against the run. They’re down to 29th in yards per carry allowed (4.97), and they lost their best run defender on the line. Nose tackle Andrew Billings will have surgery on a torn pec this week. Eberflus didn’t rule Billings out for the season, but that is usually a season-ending injury. He will likely be placed on injured reserve later this week.
“It’s the brutal part about this game. He’s our guy,” Edwards said. “He makes a lot of good things happen, but that group is so close that I know there’s going to be guys stepping up to fill that void. He’ll be with us every step of the way. That’s the brutal part about this.”
You have to go back to 2013, the worst run defense in Bears history, to find the last time they allowed at least 4.9 yards per rush in a season. They were last in the NFL that year (5.35).
“We’re getting out-executed. Plain and simple,” Edwards said. “Myself included. That’s everybody. We have to do a better job as a unit to stop this run so that we can get quarterbacks to third down and make them beat us. I truly believe our back seven is one of the best in the league and that if we get them in good field positions, we’ll win. So we’ve got to do a good job on first and second down to get to those.”
Billings was also having his best year rushing the passer. Per ESPN’s pass-rush win rate, he ranked sixth among interior defensive linemen. He had three QB hits and two tackles for loss this season.
Without Billings, it’ll be a combination of Zacch Pickens, Chris Williams and Byron Cowart lining up at defensive tackle along with Gervon Dexter.
Another O-line combination coming?
Right tackle Darnell Wright and left tackle Braxton Jones didn’t practice Wednesday. Wright hurt his knee in Sunday’s loss, and Jones injured his knee the previous week.
If Wright can’t go, it’ll be a third starting offensive line in three weeks. Jake Curhan, who is on the practice squad, stepped in for Wright last week. A month ago, he was the team’s fifth tackle, behind Jones, Wright, Kiran Amegadjie and Larry Borom.
Curhan and Borom could both start Sunday. Or the Bears could move Matt Pryor to a tackle spot and put Nate Davis — or Ryan Bates, if he’s healthy — in at guard. Pryor has played well at right guard, so that’s not an ideal move.
“We’re optimistic about both” Wright and Jones, Eberflus said. “And we’ll see where it goes. I don’t know right now. We’ve got to see how they work through it today and then going into tomorrow. But hopefully we’ll get at least one of those guys.”
Defensive relief
Among the mountain of bad news emanating from Halas Hall, the Bears are getting healthier at cornerback. Nickel Kyler Gordon returned to practice Wednesday. He was limited but should get his first full week of practice since injuring his hamstring in London.
Terell Smith, the top backup on the outside, injured his ankle in Arizona but was able to practice.
The Bears also got Pro Bowl defensive end Montez Sweat (shin) back on the practice field.
Unfortunately, safety Jaquan Brisker is still in the concussion protocol. Eberflus said Brisker is out this week. It’ll be the fourth game he’s missed.
Facing the Patriots isn’t an “all hands on deck” situation. New England is 2-7. But the Bears can’t afford to lose to a team that bad, especially at home.
(Top photo of DJ Moore: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
