CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- Of all the encouraging signs detectable in the Bears’ surprisingly close 25-20 loss to the NFL’s best team Sunday at Soldier Field, perhaps the most promising one came postgame from the podium.
Coach Matt Eberflus cares not to count moral victories, even if his 3-11 team is among league leaders in the category.
Asked if staying close to the 13-1 Eagles spoke to any progress the Bears have made in his first season, Eberflus quickly thwarted that thinking. Refreshingly, pandering or placating isn't his thing.
“We don’t look at it that way, we really don't," Eberflus said. “It’s more about us. Our execution needs to be better."
It surely will be once the Bears find better players to execute, with the disparity in talent between Chicago and Philadelphia the most obvious impression made on a clear, bitterly cold day along the lakefront. But Eberflus showing no interest in any character-building resonated too because, remember, the Bears are an organization that not so long ago celebrated the value of enduring losing streaks. In resisting any hint of satisfaction, Eberflus also demonstrated a smarter and healthier perspective on this trying season than many others in Chicago.
“We’ve got to learn how to finish better, that’s my biggest takeaway for me as a head football coach," Eberflus said, straddling that fine line between demanding and supportive.
Ironically, the Bears finished on a high note offensively, scoring on their final drive when Justin Fields found Byron Pringle for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 2:43 left make it 25-20. But the Eagles recovered the onside kick and left our football city in the awkward-yet-familiar spot of rationalizing a dazzling Fields performance that came in another disappointing defeat.
Fields became only the third NFL quarterback ever to gain 1,000 rushing yards in a season, hitting the threshold with 15 carries for 95 yards, many of them coming after protection breakdowns forced him into scramble mode.
“He’s a special guy," Eberflus said.
“It means a lot," Fields added, thanking coaches and teammates for their role in helping him make history.
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What it means to the Bears in the big picture and whether they can get to the Super Bowl relying so heavily on a quarterback’s running ability – “I don’t plan on rushing for 1,000 yards every year," Fields said postgame – will remain an riveting debate. What it meant against the Eagles on Sunday was the difference between a blowout and a close game.
Two weeks after outplaying defending MVP Aaron Rodgers on the same field, Fields did it again opposite the MVP frontrunner this season, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. For the second straight game, the Bears had the quarterback who was the most dangerous one on the field. That’s as significant as anything else that happened during a game in which the Super Bowl-caliber Eagles took the lowly Bears lightly.
Fields never quit, not even after retreating to the locker room to take an IV for a leg cramps in the fourth quarter. Overall, Fields was 14-of-21 for 152 yards and two touchdowns with a 119.9 passer rating. He spread the ball around to eight different receivers, most of them players unlikely to be his teammate when the Bears actually are good. He only struggled throwing the ball when attempting lateral throws that remain puzzlingly tricky for him to hit.
As he seems to do every game, Fields gave every fan in the audience a special moment to remember. In the second quarter, Eagles pass rusher Haason Reddick sacked Fields and forced him to fumble, which the Bears recovered. But Fields made up for that on the next snap, escaping Reddick’s grasp and breaking four more tackles on his way to a 39-yard gain. Initially, Fields celebrated in the end zone, but officials ruled he had stepped out at the 9-yard line. It became a moot point when David Montgomery scampered nine yards for the Bears’ first touchdown one play later.
“I was celebrating, spiking the ball, I had no idea," Fields said.
Montgomery scored another touchdown later on a 10-yard reception from Fields, who recognized the blitz quickly and hit the running back in stride to bring the Bears within 17-13 with 8:45 left in the third quarter. When Bears coaches and players praise Fields’ leadership and intangibles, don’t overlook the strides he has made at the line of scrimmage and in the pocket diagnosing defenses quicker than before. Whatever Fields did during the bye week to improve his overall command, it worked – remember, this was among the fiercest defenses in the NFL and it returned to Philly without an interception.
Hurts? Fields’ MVP candidate counterpart completed 22 of 37 for 315 yards with two bad interceptions that resulted in a 64.6 passer rating. For Hurts, it will provide motivation for improvement. And for critics, it offered ammunition that the Eagles offense deserves more credit than he does for his emergence – a ridiculous premise, though one offered loudly last week by Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons. Much like Fields with the Bears, Hurts is the system for the Eagles, who are smart enough to tailor their game plans around his athleticism.
Hurts hardly looked sharp early but made the tough throws when the situation required it. He connected twice with DeVonta Smith for 45 and 39 yards, showing the explosiveness that earned Smith one of the NFL’s best nicknames: The Slim Reaper. And on first down from the Bears’ 31, Hurts delivered a beauty to A.J. Brown, who was covered well by Jaylon Johnson but came down with the perfectly thrown pass at the 1.
The physical exchange all game between Johnson and Brown enhanced their one-on-one battle. It also took its toll on Johnson, who missed the final series due to a rib injury. Eberflus decided to have Johnson follow Brown all over the field -- or “travel” with the receiver, in defensive parlance. Brown, one of the sturdiest wide receivers in the NFL, came out ahead with nine catches for 181 yards – the most memorable win coming on a 68-yard, back-breaking reception from Hurts on third-and-6 with less than six minutes to go in the game. Brown ran a simple fade route and had a half-step on Johnson when Hurts threw his most accurate pass of the game when the Eagles needed it most.
Three plays later, Hurts scored his third rushing touchdown to put the game out of reach.
“Jaylon did a really good job (on Brown)," Eberflus said. “He was very competitive."
So were the Bears overall, but two key plays reminded everyone just how young and inexperienced the they truly are.
The first came in the second quarter on third-and-16 at the Eagles’ 20 after the Bears regained possession on a DeAndre Houston-Carson interception. Reddick, who terrorized the Bears with two sacks, dropped Fields for an 10-yard loss. There will be a day Fields senses that pressure a split-second sooner and throws the ball away. Instead, Reddick’s sack set up a fourth-and-26 from the 30 and rather than try a long field goal on a windy day, Eberflus – Mr. Punt-and-Pin – decided to punt. I would've asked my kicker to try a 48-yard field goal, but Eberflus said the pregame conditions warded him off that idea.
“His kick range today was the 27-yard line," Eberflus said. “That’s the way the wind was out there today."
Maybe, but in a one-score game, even on a windy day with a struggling kicker who already had missed an extra-point attempt, passing up a field-goal attempt on a bonus possession seemed like a wasted opportunity.
Another tough lesson learned came on Hurts’ 22-yard touchdown run at the end of the first half. Seconds before the snap, Bears strong safety Jaquan Brisker showed blitz by walking toward the line of scrimmage opposite the right guard. Hurts, processing everything quickly, made the correct read by taking off behind the left guard. With no other safety deep and Brisker caught up in traffic, Hurts scored untouched. Next time, Brisker will walk up more deliberately and come up with a smarter disguise so his coach isn’t talking about blown assignments postgame.
Yet even with isolated breakdowns, the Bears defense stiffened more than many expected against a potent Eagles attack, which averaged just 3.4 yards per carry and scored 25 points. The Bears also had three takeaways, winning the turnover margin.
But their one turnover was a doozy.
It came in the third quarter when Velus Jones Jr. fumbled at the Eagles’ 43 on a well-designed reverse. Jones, a disappointing rookie drafted in the third round, has proved this through 14 games: Shaky hands make him hard to trust. Keep that gadget in the drawer, Luke Getsy. Reddick recovered the fumble that killed a Bears’ drive and shifted momentum. By now, Jones should be as out of chances as the Bears are out of patience. Johnson’s pass deflection bailed Jones out with a stop on fourth-and-6, but that’s beside the point.
“I don’t like that," Eberflus said. "I don’t like when guys lose the football.’’
Losing players is even worse. Attrition again reared its ugly head for a Bears team that already had marginal depth. The scariest scene came early when players from both teams gathered around Bears right guard Teven Jenkins before medical personnel wheeled Jenkins off on a cart due to a neck injury. Receiver Equanimeous St. Brown also left in the first quarter with a concussion. Linebacker Jack Sanborn limped badly to the Bears sideline in the third quarter and never returned. Fields also gave the crowd of 48,423 collective anxiety when he grabbed his cramping leg at the end of a run in the middle of the fourth quarter, but he missed just one snap on a day he took his share of hits – not all of them clean, either, thanks to Ndamukong Suh smacking him in the helmet in the first half.
At this stage of the season, despite not having won a game since Oct. 24, the Bears find themselves healthier mentally than physically. That’s due to Eberflus refusing to sound satisfied with close losses to great teams and being the same guy every day. No first-year coach should worry about losing the locker room, but Eberflus keeps gaining respect by requiring a consistent mindset and approach. It’s repetitive and redundant but also necessary in a locker room full of players who have yet to develop the “championship habits” that Eberflus keeps describing.
“You’ve got to have perspective," Eberflus said.
Without it, a long season at Halas Hall would be insufferable.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.
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