LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) — Before the Bears took to the practice fields at Halas Hall for a Wednesday morning walkthrough, head coach Matt Eberflus met with his eight team captains, as he does each week. The circumstances of this gathering were different than usual.
The Bears were less than 72 hours removed from a heartbreaking 18-15 loss to the Commanders on Sunday, a game they lost on a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown as time expired. Afterward, there was plenty of blame to go around.
Eberflus was responsible for perplexing coaching decisions that contributed to the collapse, then he elected to double-down on those choices rather than accept blame for them. Second-year cornerback Tyrique Stevenson apologized in a team meeting Monday morning for his part in the Hail Mary play, as he had his back turned to the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped and didn't fulfill his assignment of covering Commanders receiver Noah Brown, who hauled in the winning touchdown on a ball Stevenson tipped.
Also on Monday, tight end and captain Cole Kmet called into question his teammates' focus in practices when he addressed reporters. Veteran safety Kevin Byard later discussed his respectful conversation with Eberflus about the penultimate play, one in which the Bears easily surrendered 13 free yards, which allowed the Commanders to get in range for the Hail Mary heave.
Then on Monday evening, Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson joined the Spiegel & Holmes Show and openly pondered why Eberflus didn’t call a timeout before the final play to to set up the Hail Mary defense.
Those are all key veterans and leaders in the Bears’ locker room who are attempting to pick up the pieces around them after a gut-wrenching loss. The Bears' goal is to prevent the stinging setback from lingering as they move forward, but it seems to have followed them back to Halas Hall.
"In the building, we hold each other accountable,” Eberflus said Wednesday afternoon. “It’s about our circle and the men in this building."
One potential step toward accountability surrounds the role Stevenson, who met with Eberflus directly Wednesday morning.
Eberflus declined to say whether Stevenson will remain in his starting role in the Bears’ secondary this Sunday, when Chicago visits the Arizona Cardinals. A second-round pick of the Bears in 2023, Stevenson has five interceptions in 22 career starts and has been a key player on a stout defense. But he has also made his share of miscues before the final-play gaffe Sunday.
The nine-year veteran Byard was among Bears players who also met with Stevenson this week, though he declined to offer specifics of his message to him.
“Am I satisfied? I mean, I don’t know if it really matters if I’m satisfied or not,” Byard said. “At the end of the day, if (Stevenson) is back out there on Sunday starting, I’m not going to feel a way about it. If he’s not out there starting, I’m not going to feel a way about it. Because at the end of the day, I have to play safety for the Bears, I have to hold down my responsibilities and I have to be accountable to the things I have to be accountable to.”
As for his conversation with Eberflus about the defensive setup on the penultimate play, Byard noted he wishes that he would’ve kept that matter private rather than offering it to the media Monday.
Now in his third year leading the Bears, Eberflus has a record of 14-27 in Chicago. He guided the team through two difficult rebuilding years, delivering progress in developing the roster while general manager Ryan Poles made key decisions in the front office.
But the tenor of Eberflus’ third season is different from the first two. He's now at the helm of a Bears team that's aiming for a breakthrough and seeking to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 campaign. Those chances weren’t dashed with the loss to the Commanders on Sunday, but the task grew taller.
Pressed on his decisions, Eberflus didn’t back down from a third-and-goal play call in the fourth quarter in which the Bears attempted to hand off to offensive lineman Doug Kramer, who was lined up at fullback, at the Commanders' 1-yard line. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams couldn’t deliver a clean handoff to the 300-pound Kramer, who was set to register his first career carry. The football was fumbled, and the Commanders recovered.
Eberflus' tone has been consistent in his three-year tenure leading the Bears. He prefers to keep scrutiny out of the public light but often fails to fall on the sword for his own coaching mistakes.
Given the considerable blow of this loss, Eberflus needs to identify whether he still has the Bears’ belief moving forward.
“You’d have to ask those (players),” Eberflus said. “I’m going to be the man that I’ve been and the leader I’ve been and just be steady all the way through the process. We’re a team that’s growing, and we’re a team that’s getting better, and we’ll work through this adversity.”
The Bears held a walkthrough Wednesday morning rather than a full-speed practice, as is customary during a game week, due to their many injuries on the offensive line, Eberflus said.
As the Bears sort through their loss to the Commanders, they'll explore a troubling trend. Chicago has surrendered the game’s first score in each contest this season. That has made the Bears play from behind in all seven games.
The Bears struggled on offense for much of Sunday, and they only had a chance to win because their defense held the Commanders to four field goals for the first 59-plus minutes. The 22-year-old Williams, who was part of the captains meeting Wednesday, took a step back in Washington after showcasing progress in the weeks prior.
“You're furious that you just lost and you lost that way,” Williams said. “It's a tough way to lose. (But) there's obviously a sense of accountability that I have to take. Didn't play well first half. We had stalled drives, and that goes back to throughout the week. That goes through during that game, us not finding ways to put ourselves in position to be able to score, get three points, to keep multiple three points like they did on the other side.
“If we keep putting points on the board, if we keep doing our job, if I keep doing my job to the best of my ability, finding ways to get points and things like that, protect the football, we win a lot of games, especially with the defense that we have. That's an explosive offense that we just played. Putting up 30, 40, how many ever points, and we hold them to 12 and we can't go out there and execute throughout the whole game to be able to play complementary football enough. I've got to do a better job, us leaders have to do a better job leading throughout the week and being on the details.
“The better teams I’ve been on, the players lead. That’s what we have here. Something I go by myself is that OK teams, nobody leads. Good teams, the coaches lead. And great teams, the players lead.”
Before the Bears could turn their focus toward the Cardinals on Sunday, they had to look within and take responsibility for a heartbreaking loss.
“Accountability is one of the main pillars of a successful organization, whether it’s football or any organization,” Byard said. “You have to be accountable for yourself and we all have to be accountable to each other. I think we are."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.