CHICAGO (670 The Score) — Chicago can stop referring to Matt Eberflus as a defensive head coach now.
Eberflus is definitely an apprehensive head coach.
He’s surely a tentative head coach.
As a result, he’s possibly a temporary head coach too.
But defensive head coach? No way.
Not after the final few minutes of the latest gut punch to Bears fans, a 31-28 defeat to the Broncos on Sunday at Soldier Field. Find another descriptor for Eberflus.
Traditionally, defensive head coaches look for every chance to let their defensive mentality dictate the outcome of a football game, typically opting for force over finesse and aggressiveness over apprehension.
Instead, Eberflus squandered every opportunity to win his way and, after falling to 0-4, the hard reality is the Bears have gone soft.
This is who they are under Eberflus, delicate and dysfunctional, a team hard to believe in but easy to doubt. This was a winnable game for the Bears against a winless opponent, a game they led comfortably 28-7 with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter.
May the best team win? Maybe. But all we know for sure after this one is the worst team lost.
There are many reasons why but none bigger than what happened with 2:57 left and the game tied at 28.
The Bears faced fourth-and-1 from the Broncos’ 18-yard line. Conventional wisdom says kick the field goal, take the lead and trust a struggling defense to make one last stand.
The Bears went for it.
Remember, the Bears proudly hired Eberflus in January 2022 knowing he was commonly referred to as a defensive-minded head coach – and he's even calling his own signals in the wake of defensive coordinator Alan Williams’ mysterious resignation.
If there's anything Eberflus should believe in most, in the face of adversity, it is the ability for his defense or his coaching staff to find a way to stop the opponent with the game on the line. Or, if he opts to have any input offensively in those critical game situations, implore his play-caller to call a play consistent with that physical mindset.
If Eberflus doesn’t carry those beliefs, deep in his football core, then what good is his philosophy, really? What Eberflus values most as a football coach is what he could've cited in defending that decision if the Bears defense he trusted to protect a late three-point lead had failed. At least that would’ve been easier to respect. Instead, he’s losing respect as rapidly as his team is losing games.
With the game on the line, Eberflus’ imprint was absent.
His defense never got a chance to save the game, Flus-y style, because Eberflus buckled. He bowed to everybody in his ear surely urging him to go for it on fourth-and-1 the way the cool NFL kids do, to get one measly yard against a Broncos defense that had surrendered 726 one week earlier.
It sounded so easy.
It wasn’t.
Because the Bears compounded one mistake by making another. After opting against the field-goal attempt, Eberflus failed to veto offensive coordinator Luke Getsy when he called to run a play out of the shotgun formation – though it remains unclear if he even considered it.
“Every situation's different," Eberflus said. “You've got to look at the game in its entirety, and I think that the way we were running the football and the confidence that we had on offense in that moment."
How in the name of smash-mouth football do you allow your offensive coordinator call a fourth-and-1 play, with the game on the line, that calls for the Bears to line up in the shotgun formation? What is it about taking the snap three yards behind center that makes going 36 inches forward easier? What is it about the allure of the shotgun formation that turns football brains into mush? What does the former offensive lineman-turned-general manager Ryan Poles think about the Bears tiptoeing their way to gaining three feet?
Predictably, Justin Fields lined up in the shotgun formation, handed to Khalil Herbert and the Broncos defensive line, considered among the worst in the NFL, stuffed Herbert short of the chains. Broncos ball. The Bears got what they deserved.
Why the shotgun, coach?
“There's a lot of plays that you can run there," Eberflus said. "You can run a bunch of different plays. That's the play we chose. That's the play we thought was the best at the time."
It led to the worst possible outcome but the one easiest to predict.
On cue, Russell Wilson returned to the field and marched the Broncos 48 yards on five plays before kicker Wil Lutz booted a 51-yard field goal to make everyone wonder if the Bears ever will win another game without firing somebody.
It’s been 342 days and counting. It’s been 14 straight losses, without a win in sight. It’s a mess, with the communication as sloppy as the execution for a regime supposedly all about discipline and culture.
Postgame, a Bears staffer alerted reporters in the press box that Eberflus mistakenly said that troubled receiver Chase Claypool – who was inactive Sunday – went home without permission. The team indeed gave Claypool consent. Whatever. It was just another awkward moment in an awful day in another alarming season that feels over before it really began.
There are no words that adequately describe exactly what happened Sunday, no clever headlines or phrases that sum up the stunning way the Bears turned a 21-point lead into a three-point defeat in 19 minutes. Nothing captured how jarring the experience was better than the familiar shell-shocked, deer-in-the-headlights look on the face of Eberflus. He tried in vain to detail how much progress had been made, how well Fields played and some other stuff that sounded like more empty rhetoric.
Praise for Fields came easily, given his numbers, but so did criticism considering he turned the ball over twice more in the fourth quarter.
First the good stuff: Fields completed 28 of 35 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns with a 132.7 passer rating. Wilson matched Fields, reminding everyone why he'll be worthy of Hall of Fame consideration after retirement, bringing the Broncos back with his trademark, never-quit approach. Wilson kept plays alive and spread the ball around, completing 21 of 28 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns with a 133.5 passer rating. It was a fun day to play quarterback and an entertaining matchup, partly because Fields held up his end.
Bears receivers couldn’t have been more open if they had a good therapist.
DJ Moore adjusted like No. 1 wide receivers do on his 29-yard, play-of-the-game touchdown reception early in the second quarter. Moore also made sure-handed grabs that underscored his combination of durability and dependability. Cole Kmet resembled a real threat at tight end, drawing a pass interference penalty and catching two touchdown passes in the first half. Darnell Mooney continued to make progress in his return from an injury last season, playing a supporting role without complaint. Even Equanimeous St. Brown contributed his first reception of the season, a bobble that he secured for a 21-yard gain.
The widespread contribution of the wide receiver corps came on a day Claypool, its most controversial member, landed on the inactive list. Claypool couldn’t help himself Friday at Halas Hall when he publicly expressed a need to be used more frequently. It didn’t matter if Claypool had a point, not for an underperforming receiver who already was called out this year for his effort. One report Sunday suggested Poles will try to trade Claypool, which would be the best move for everyone if he can pull it off.
Fields spoke up for Claypool postgame, but he didn’t miss the mercurial receiver during his first 300-yard passing game in the NFL.
This performance will help stem the tide of criticism, but it likely won’t stop some fans from coveting USC quarterback Caleb Williams or urging me to rename our podcast “Tank the North.’’
This was the quarterback the Bears always thought they had drafted, the dual threat whose arm damaged defenses as much his legs, a potent passer whose rewards increase once he elevates the risks. This was evidence used in preseason to wildly position Fields as a sleeper MVP candidate, the examples of pitch-and-catch that complement his ability to run-and-hide well enough to remove the ceiling from his potential. This was the collection of facts that supported the rumor that Fields himself perpetuated by expressing the need to play freer, out of the pocket and on the move, reacting more than thinking and throwing the football more than aiming it.
This was also only one game.
One that started so well for Fields but ended with regret. On the play in which disaster struck, Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto blitzed from the right side and came untouched. Instead of eating the ball and taking the sack, Fields tried to make something happen and raised his arm to pass. Bonitto dislodged the ball from Fields, and Jonathon Cooper scooped it up and scored a touchdown 35 yards later. Suddenly, a game the Bears comfortably led 28-7 was tied with 6:55 left. Later, with 38 seconds left and the Bears still holding a chance to either tie or win, Broncos safety Kareem Jackson thwarted any hopes by picking off a pass intended for Kmet that sailed high.
A crowd of 62,220 sat in stunned silence. Then a few boos rang out, followed by a few more. It’s as frustrating as it is familiar, as numbing as novocaine.
An apology: After the Bears' lopsided defeat to the Chiefs last week, I wrote in this same space that they “have nowhere to go but up." I was premature.
Blowing a 28-7 lead in the second half at home to a winless team qualifies as sinking even deeper.
Sure, getting embarrassed by the defending Super Bowl champions was bad.
This was worse.
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.