I believed it was very nice of Anthony Richardson to ship a present to Matt Eberflus’ workplace earlier than the sport.
You don’t typically anticipate one thing like that to occur. But as Eberflus opened the field in the visiting locker room, he discovered a ‘W’ in the field. Richardson gift-wrapped the sport for Eberflus, all he wanted to do was take benefit of it and win the sport.
How the Bears may lose a sport by which the offense runs 84 performs and tallies 400 yards of offense whereas the protection held Anthony Richardson to 191 whole yards is mind-boggling.
There are lots of causes that went into that: the Bears misplaced the turnover battle, the protection gave up first downs on the floor once they couldn’t afford it, the offensive line struggled, and the Bears’ working sport continues to be lacking in motion. When you've gotten this many points directly, it’s time to have a look at the man at the high.
The Bears very properly could have a Matt Eberflus downside.
The Bears had an opportunity to align the head coach and quarterback this offseason. They knew they have been drafting Caleb Williams, however the group selected to retain Matt Eberflus regardless of shedding three video games final season that have been almost mathematically inconceivable to take action and being chased off the discipline by the Green Bay Packers in the remaining sport of the season.
But with the positivity round the choice of Caleb Williams and the Matt Eberflus glow-up, all people appeared to overlook that Eberflus was a questionable sideline coach on Sundays.
Guess what? Matt Eberflus is a questionable sideline coach on Sundays.
The hope that Eberflus was going to develop into the half. The hope was that he would be taught from earlier errors and get higher. But to this point we noticed him burn timeouts on two poor challenges towards the Texans and the Bears wasted a timeout defensively in that sport.
Fast ahead one week later and the Bears are nonetheless taking timeouts once they shouldn’t, and the sideline confusion over an OBVIOUS two-point conversion is inexcusable. High college groups ensure that the sidelines know what the plan is that if the landing is scored. Heck, they ensure that the sidelines know what the plan is on any fourth down. So why are the Chicago Bears coaches busy high-fiving one another relatively than being targeted on the subsequent play?
Celebrate if you win a sport, not if you rating your second offensive landing of the season.
We can discuss the lack of a run sport, and the way the complete scheme seems disjointed and damaged. That scheme, no less than partly, is created and designed by the Chicago Bears’ run sport coordinator, Chris Morgan, who Matt Eberflus retained off of final 12 months’s workers that was principally let go.
We can discuss how the offensive line appears to be enjoying under their expertise stage. A gaggle, once more, coached by Chris Morgan, who Eberflus needed to retain from the offensive workers.
We can discuss the fixed mishandling of timeouts, mismanaging the clock, and basic confusion that the sideline confirmed. Sure, we are able to discuss how nice the protection seems and the way a lot Matt Eberflus deserves credit score for that, however he's not the defensive coordinator, he’s the head coach, and he doesn’t appear to have solutions proper now for the questions that have to be solved.
The finest hope at this level is for Eberflus to develop into the half and that this group seems higher, extra cohesive, and improves as the season strikes ahead, but when that is an underwhelming season, what do you do at the finish of the 12 months?
It had beforehand been reported by Brad Biggs that Eberflus’ deal is for 4 years. If that’s the case, Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles must resolve if Eberflus must be fired or prolonged after this season. That’s going to be an inconceivable determination to make. You additionally will put the younger quarterback in a troublesome spot if you happen to fireplace Eberflus as a result of he should be taught a completely new offensive scheme, playbook, and terminology in 2025 after simply studying one in 2024. As we all know, the finest solution to wreck a rookie is to explode their offense after 12 months one.
Trevor Lawrence was a can’t-miss prospect and the Jacksonville Jaguars are at the moment questioning what’s occurring with their franchise QB who, coincidentally, had his complete teaching workers blown up throughout his rookie season (not even after it).
If this season sputters, do the Bears danger Caleb Williams’ improvement and alter it up? Or do they follow continuity even when the outcomes are substandard?
It’s solely three video games, there’s lots of time and many of winnable video games on the schedule, however at this level, the query must be requested all season lengthy: Do the Bears have a Matt Eberflus downside?
Quick Hits
- Rushing behind Braxton Jones on the season replace: 17 carries, 10 yards
- DJ Moore must stretch the discipline, He has simply 4 catches on 9 targets on all intermediate and deep balls. He has caught 15 of 18 targets on quick passes.
- Conversely, Rome Oduze has 11 intermediate and deep targets and simply 6 quick targets.
- Cole Kmet has caught 15 of 16 (!!!) passes on the season for a 94% catch fee.
- Per PFF, the Bears' secondary when focused on the 12 months: 30-53, 363 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs, 60.5 score.
- D’Andre Swift has one first down on 37 carries this season. ONE. Roschon Johnson had three carries for first downs vs Colts on 8 carries.
- One first down? Really? One fudging first down? You must be kidding me.
- The Colts ran Jonathan Taylor immediately at Gervon Dexter 14 occasions in the sport for 72 yards. Dexter’s play towards the run has not been good.
- Jaquan Brisker is having the finest season of his profession.
- Caleb Williams’ progress in three video games has been outstanding. This goes to be enjoyable.
