Eberflus defends play leading up to blocked FG, provides injury updates |
CHICAGO—The Chicago Bears have not defeated the Green Bay Packers since December 2018. This most recent loss to a blocked field goal was incredibly painful, especially considering whether the officials missed a leveraging call against Green Bay.
Head coach Matt Eberflus has asked the league to review the play. “We had to be firmer inside for sure, and again, (we turned) the play in because obviously they were on our long snapper. So, we’ll turn it in and see what the league says from there. But again, we just got to be firmer in the execution,” Eberflus said. “We saw them making direct contact with him right away and we’ll turn that in as well.” Besides the potential missed penalty, there is also controversy in how the Bears executed the final drive. With 35 seconds left and the ball at Green Bay’s 30-yard line, Chicago elected to run the ball with running back Roschon Johnson who got two yards. The Bears ran the clock down to three seconds before taking a timeout to set up the potential game-winning 46-yard field goal. Eberflus stands by his decision to let the clock run down instead of getting closer. “Feel really good with running the ball there to get it to the 28 yard line and then taking (the clock) down to three seconds and then going for the game-winner there. Thought the operation was good. There was playmakers making plays when they needed to at the end of that game and we just got to be firmer in the pocket there and the protection, the field goal protection, and we’ll look at that play. It’s a play that we need to execute on and a play we need to do better on in terms of making that game-winner,” Eberflus said. “Once you’re inside that line there, you feel good about it. (Kicker) Cairo (Santos)’s line, we don’t talk about lines per se. But, he was (well) inside the line for his comfortability there … He felt good where he was on the field and we felt very confident in his ability to get that done.” While the loss is difficult, to say the least, the offense looked incredibly different under interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was faster in his decision making and got the ball to wide receiver DJ Moore, as well as spreading it out to rookie Rome Odunze and six-time Pro-Bowler Keenan Allen. “DJ is obviously really good at run after catch. So, the more times you can get him (the ball) and he does a lot of things well. But, that’s one thing he does well. He’s like a running back with the ball in his hands,” Eberflus said. “The distribution to the skill was really good. I thought his timing, his progressions were (really) good and that was out through the whole week. His whole week was like that. His completion percentage was high during the week. His ability to adjust and change as he did in one of those last plays when they brought zero pressure to throw to Keenan. He was able to adjust and change the protection to max protection and be able to deliver the ball on time and be able to see that. That was really good to me.” On the injury front, there were not a lot of updates from Eberflus. Chicago hopes to have offensive lineman Teven Jenkins return next Sunday when the Bears play the Minnesota Vikings (Noon / FOX), particularly now that lineman Ryan Bates is in concussion protocol. Safety Elijah Hicks rolled his ankle, so his status against Minnesota is also in question. Given safety Jaquan Brisker is on injured reserve (IR), the Bears are getting a little thin at safety. So, their game against the Vikings will surely test their depth. It would help the secondary if the pass rush got going. Chicago has only had two sacks in the past two games. That is not a way to win football games, as everything starts at the line of scrimmage. Eberflus said that is something the coaching staff will look at leading up to the matchup against Minnesota. “Definitely needed a better-coordinated pass rush, getting on the quarterback, (hitting) the quarterback. That’s something we have to look at,” Eberflus said. “We have to be better there for sure and that’s something we’re going to look at this week for sure and it’s something that we have to be coordinated with and have a better result.”
