(670 The Score) A handful of comments from Bears players after the team’s late collapse in a 20-17 loss to the Browns on Sunday were perhaps telling in the mind of Score hosts Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes.
On their show Monday, Bernstein and Holmes questioned a bizarre defensive play call from head coach Matt Eberflus in a key moment Sunday. With the game tied at 17-17 with 56 seconds left and the Browns facing third-and-15 from their own 47-yard line, the Bears blitzed quarterback Joe Flacco. But in doing so, they also dropped defensive tackle Justin Jones into coverage underneath rather than having a linebacker parole that area. Flacco bought time by retreating deep into the pocket and then lobbed a pass to tight end David Njoku, whose superior speed rendered Jones hopeless in coverage. The completion went for 34 yards and set up the Browns’ game-winning field goal shortly thereafter.
After the game, a handful of Bears appeared to be frustrated by the play call.
“That’s what’s called,” Jones told the Tribune. “That’s what we played. I don’t know what to tell you … I’m just doing what the call was. I don’t even know.”
Fellow defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker yelled “it ain’t on him” while Jones was conducting his postgame interview, Brad Biggs of the Tribune reported. Safety Eddie Jackson added, “Whether we like it or not, we got to go execute.”
In his postgame media session, Eberflus explained that the thought process was to make Flacco get the ball out of his hands quickly and tackle a Browns receiver short of the first-down marker. When asked directly, Eberflus didn’t clearly explain why he would choose to drop a slower defensive lineman into coverage in a key moment.
Holmes thought the Bears should’ve kept it simple in that moment.
“It’s a perfect down and distance to play Cover 2 straight up,” Holmes said.
Bernstein believes the quotes from players showed everyone a lot about how they feel.
“That’s three players in the locker room – Biggs said more than that – but when you have DeMarcus Walker, Justin Jones and Eddie Jackson, three vets, bitching about that call – ‘Hey, talk to coach, man” – something is wrong,” Bernstein said.