After the Chicago Bears’ latest late-game collapse, the players’ morale is pretty low. They have no more words to describe what is happening.
If you needed another reason for the Chicago Bears to fire head coach Matt Eberflus just look at how the players reacted after the game. Both in the locker room and in their press conferences, they looked shocked and dismayed at what just happened. They still could not believe that the game finished the way it did.
To recap, the Bears were dominating the Detroit Lions for about 56 minutes on Sunday. The offense moved the ball, the defense stopped Detroit’s offense (and had three interceptions), and the special teams provided another turnover and four field goals.
The Bears could not overcome the final four minutes, however. The Lions amassed 148 of their 338 total yards of offense on the final two drives. That is 44 percent of their offense on just two drives.
After the game everyone, including the Lions themselves, were questioning what happened. The Bears had a 98 percent probability of winning the game but the two percent won over.
Here is a sample of what some Bears players said after the game
Tight end Cole Kmet:
I’m kind of at a loss for words for what just happened, honestly. That’s unbelievable. Felt like we won the game physically, for sure, out there. We just gotta finish. That’s tough. It’s tough. It’s tough.
We shoulda beat that team.
Defensive end DeMarcus Walker:
This is an ugly loss right here. I feel like this is the worst one. I don’t know, man. I’ve seen a lot of football but, damn, you know. I don’t know, man. Honestly, I couldn’t answer your questions. I’ve got to watch the film. Because I really want to see, like, what the fuck happened.
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We hear all the talk about the team learning to finish games. While that has some truth to it, it is up to the coaches to put the players in a situation to win. After a dynamic first drive, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy again went with a conservative game plan. Yes, he mixed some long passes, but it seemed he and Eberflus were happy with settling for field goals instead of playing for touchdowns.
It is a movie we are all familiar with. The Bears run out to a lead, then it seems like Getsy and Eberflus want to sit on that lead. Instead of continuing to be aggressive, they shriveled up and got conservative. For example, in the first half, they went for it on fourth down twice. Both times they converted.
They had a couple more opportunities to go for it on fourth and short in the second half, yet the Bears failed to attempt to convert on any of them. On the drive in which Cairo Santos hit a field goal to give Chicago a 12-point lead, they had a fourth and inches. Instead of going for it and killing the clock more and possibly getting a touchdown, EberEtsy decided to settle again.
Even if you agree with kicking the field goal, Eberflus’ insistence on rotating defenders also helped lose the game. In critical situations, his rotation had Montez Sweat on the sideline watching instead of hunting the quarterback.
We saw how Detroit had Aidan Hutchinson play 92 percent of the snaps in the game. He was wreaking havoc and made the big strip sack, fumble, and safety that sealed the game for Detroit.
At some point, the losing grinds on the players. Eberflus is now 6-22 in his career. That is the lowest winning percentage in the history of the Chicago Bears. What is the purpose of building a million-dollar roster if it is led by a one-dollar coaching staff?
There isn’t much hope in the Bears’ ownership in making a change during the season. We can only hope that as the season winds down the powers that be are working on a plan to prepare for a change in coaching as much as they are a change in the roster.