It’s taking place once more.
The Chicago Bears are mired in one other prolonged skid. On Monday night time, after they stroll onto the sector at Gillette Stadium to face the New England Patriots, they are going to be 29 days faraway from their final victory.
Remember that triumph? The 23-20 defeat of the Houston Texans that was made official when Cairo Santos transformed a late Roquan Smith interception right into a 30-yard walk-off subject purpose?
Well, it has been some time …
The Bears took a visit east in Week 4 and stumbled by means of an error-filled, touchdown-less highway loss to the New York Giants.
They adopted the following week with a brutal begin in Minnesota, and their second-half rally wasn’t sufficient.
On Oct. 13, they scored solely seven factors and face-planted throughout a number of fourth-quarter moments of reality, dropping in prime time to the sputtering Washington Commanders — who, by the way in which, got here to Chicago on their very own four-game dropping streak.
Now the Bears are in Foxborough, Mass., the place a chess match in opposition to Bill Belichick awaits, then off to Dallas in Week 8 to face a nasty Cowboys protection that has sufficient tooth to chew them up and spit them into the trash can.
In quick, the Bears are staring down the barrel of a winless October. Which leaves rookie coach Matt Eberflus going through his first main management check.
On Thursday, Eberflus was requested how he’ll fight discouragement inside his gamers whereas retaining the depth and focus he requires to construct his program.
“I just think that’s focus,” Eberflus stated. “You focus on where your feet are right now and on trying to get better and improve with every single rep, every single practice. (That’s) individually, as a unit and as a football team.”
That sort of micro-focus will probably be essential, little doubt. But it additionally is perhaps laborious to acquire from a gaggle whose finest efforts proceed to go unrewarded on sport days.
‘Stop the bleeding’
Sure, this can be a rebuilding season. It was arrange that method from the get-go. And this current pileup of losses was predictable and, to be frank, fairly inevitable for a workforce with the expertise and depth deficiencies the Bears have.
But that doesn’t make the grind of persevering by means of failure any gentler. That’s why Eberflus will want to ensure his voice continues to resonate. He additionally will want his workforce leaders to face tall and set a tone on an on a regular basis foundation. For one other 12 weeks.
To that finish, third-year cornerback Jaylon Johnson appears to have an angle price emulating. Johnson was requested final week how the Bears can stop the frustration of dropping three in a row — and possibly 4 or 5 – 6 — from spawning some pure lethargy and consternation that solely would make the climb harder.
“Hopefully there’s no (mental) fatigue when we’re losing,” Johnson stated. “I feel like, if anything, everyone should have more energy to stop the bleeding.”
Words of encouragement, Johnson emphasised, can go solely to date.
“Of course we’ve all heard we’re moving in the right direction,” he stated. “But we now have to discover a method to actually cease the bleeding. And I really feel like that begins with every particular person particular person.
“There shouldn’t be a shortage of energy. If anything, we need to have more energy. We need to find a way to spark this team. Just find a way to win. That’s what it’s about right now.”
Skid marks
If the Bears can’t upset both the Patriots or Cowboys within the subsequent seven days, they are going to be in acquainted however ugly territory, struggling by means of a winless stretch of a minimum of 40 days for the fourth consecutive season.
In 2019, in what was speculated to be an excellent A hundredth-season celebration with Super Bowl desires inbuilt, the Bears went 42 days between their third and fourth victories. The season unraveled, and a promising workforce’s projected ascent turned a nosedive.
The subsequent 12 months, the Bears went 56 days between victories with a six-game dropping streak torpedoing the nice vibes of a 5-1 begin and leaving few doubts as to how far-off from authentic competition the group was — even with a backdoor entry into the NFC playoffs as an 8-8 No. 7 seed.
Last season, 46 days handed between a 20-9 victory over the Raiders in October in Las Vegas and an Andy Dalton-sparked 16-14 win over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.
Ultimately the sample of downward spirals value normal supervisor Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy their jobs and led to the 2022 reboot through which the entrance workplace and training employees had been overhauled and the roster was blown up and reconstructed.
Yet right here we’re. It’s taking place once more.
The Bears now want leaders to regular the ship.
That begins with Eberflus but in addition would require heightened course from workforce captains reminiscent of Justin Fields, Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith. Throughout the locker room, a united effort will probably be wanted to maintain the required grind from changing into an insupportable slog.
‘No matter the circumstance’
Linebacker Nick Morrow is aware of the Bears’ current dropping streak has been irritating for lots of gamers. He additionally understands the wiring required to achieve NFL success.
“Week after week, you have to come in here and be a professional,” Morrow stated. “I say it all the time: A pro is at his best no matter the circumstance. Winning, losing. Hot, cold. If you’re playing, not playing, whatever it is, you have to be a pro.”
With a younger workforce, veterans reminiscent of Morrow should lead by instance.
“Rah-rah only goes so far,” he stated. “You can tell a guy, ‘Come on! Let’s go! Let’s go!’ But this is more about showing up to work every day, showing up to practice, showing up in the film room, asking good questions in the meetings. You keep the mental fatigue from creeping in by constantly staying engaged and keeping everyone around you up.”
Morrow acknowledges that’s simpler stated than completed. But he praised Eberflus’ day-to-day steadiness and stays assured the Bears have gamers with the correct mindset to sidestep the traps of impatience and dismay.
“You’ve heard the saying: ‘The last thing to show in a successful business is a profit,’ ” Morrow stated. “Winning is our profit, obviously. But we also have to look every week to see if we are improving — whether that’s as an individual, as a position group, as an offense or defense or as a team. We can’t lose that perspective. The tape will tell us what we need to know.”
There will probably be extra tape Monday night time from a measuring-stick sport. The hope at Halas Hall is the starvation and ambition from August received’t flip right into a defeated outlook in November and December.
A win will probably be wanted in some unspecified time in the future. And ideally sooner somewhat than later. But at this stage within the Bears’ reconstruction course of, the day-to-day angle and method stays equally necessary.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com