The Chicago Bears obtain a small break after their first win of the season, a 40-20 victory towards the Washington Commanders on Thursday night time in Landover, Md.
After enjoying two video games in 5 days, the Bears have 10 days earlier than their Week 6 recreation towards the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. Coach Matt Eberflus met with reporters Friday to speak concerning the finish to his group’s 14-game shedding streak and what’s forward.
Here are three issues we discovered.
1. Matt Eberflus mentioned the Bears are having conversations about whether or not they are going to herald one other defensive coach.
With the Bears’ official bye week set for Week 13, they are going to use this “mini-bye” to regroup.
Eberflus mentioned a part of that overview will embrace figuring out whether or not they are going to herald any outdoors assist for his protection after the resignation of coordinator Alan Williams in Week 3. He mentioned the Bears are “working through that right now.”
“We’re having conversations on that,” Eberflus mentioned. “If it’s right for us and it works for us, that’s great. If it doesn’t, it will be what it is. But we’re still looking at it. We have an open mind certainly on all those things to make us better, and there’s nothing wrong with bringing someone in that can help, that has a different perspective.”
Eberflus took over defensive play calling when Williams left, and he has mentioned his plan is to name performs the remainder of the season, although he has left the subject just a little open-ended.
“Right now, my plan is to do that, for sure,” Eberflus mentioned. “But we’ll see where it goes.”
Eberflus mentioned he started assembly with the defensive coaches Friday morning for the self scout, going by way of run and cross defenses and third-down, two-minute and red-zone conditions. Along with evaluating their scheme, they summarize what every particular person participant does properly and what they should work on to allow them to current every participant in all three phases with a report once they return to Halas Hall on Monday.
2. The Bears ‘don’t have that reply but’ on the well being of Khalil Herbert.
Herbert suffered what initially seemed to be an unpleasant harm when he landed awkwardly on his proper leg within the third quarter. Trainers tended to him for what the group known as an ankle harm, however he walked off and later might be seen bouncing round on the sideline. He reentered the sport two drives later however fell down when making an attempt to advance on a catch. He left the sport after dashing for 76 yards and didn’t return.
“We’ll see where it is,” Eberflus mentioned. “We’ve got to see it when he’s in here with the doctors. We’ll just assess it as it goes. We certainly hope it isn’t (long term).”
Herbert is the Bears’ main rusher with 51 carries for 272 yards — 5.3 yards per carry. He informed reporters after the sport that he nonetheless was making an attempt to determine what occurred on the play when he was injured however added, “I’ll be OK.”
The Bears even have working backs Roschon Johnson, D’Onta Foreman and Travis Homer on the roster. But Johnson was dominated out whereas in concussion protocol in the course of the recreation, and Homer had a hamstring harm, leaving fullback Khari Blasingame to imagine the fourth-quarter dashing load. He had eight carries for 26 yards.
Foreman, who had a breakout 2022 season with 914 dashing yards for the Carolina Panthers, has performed in just one recreation and has been inactive for the opposite 4.
The further time without work might be good for the Bears’ bodily well being after a number of gamers left with accidents, together with middle Lucas Patrick and cornerbacks Terell Smith and Greg Stroman Jr. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson and security Eddie Jackson have been on the mend for weeks and sat out the entire recreation.
3. Eberflus has seen the arrogance of quarterback Justin Fields develop over the past 2 weeks.
Fields threw for 617 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception mixed within the Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos and Thursday’s win towards the Commanders.
It’s by far the very best two-game stretch of his profession, and Eberflus mentioned he “can just see the confidence” of Fields.
“When you have growth in your profession or my profession or him being a pro quarterback, you can just feel it,” Eberflus mentioned. “And you can feel the guys around him, the comfort level and the confidence that they’re having, the chemistry that they’re having. You can see it in practice, you can see it in the games.”
The key now, Eberflus mentioned, is to execute as he has with consistency and stack video games collectively.
Fields’ performances in back-to-back weeks, together with pulling out the win within the fourth quarter Thursday, and the offensive recreation plans have quieted a number of the angst about his profession trajectory. And not less than for now, the win quieted a number of the speak of Eberflus’ job safety.
But Eberflus sidestepped a query concerning the win serving to preserve a number of the criticism at bay.
“We take one game at a time,” he mentioned. “We’re going to stick to the process of how we do our business, and if we keep doing it right, good things are going to happen.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com