Eberflus disappointed in loss, but proud of progress seen from Williams |
CHICAGO - How many different ways are the Chicago Bears going to figure out how to lose this season? They scored a touchdown and two-point conversion to make it a three-point game, get the onside kick, send the game into overtime, and win the coin toss.
Yet, Chicago still lost 30-27 against the Minnesota Vikings. “Obviously (a) very disappointing loss, but also I told the guys how proud I was of all of those guys of staying together, the grit, determination that they had to be able to make that an overtime game,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “So, being able to score those two touchdowns at the end there put us in position with the onside kick and delivered the strike down the middle to (wide receiver) DJ (Moore) to kick that field goal to tie it. So, a lot of good things there in terms of that.” The Bears scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, including 11 points in under two minutes, to force the game into overtime. Kicker Cairo Santos had a little redemption. After having the game-winning 48-yard field goal blocked against the Green Bay Packers and a 49-yard field goal blocked against the Vikings, Santos kicked the game-tying 48-yarder to send the game into overtime. However, special teams continue to be a concern as Chicago prepares for its Thanksgiving matchup against the Detroit Lions (11:30 a.m. / CBS), its third straight NFC North game. In addition to two straight games with a blocked field goal, punt returner DeAndre Carter muffed a punt to set Minnesota up at the Chicago 15 yard line; they capitalized on that turnover with a touchdown. “When you have issues on any part of the team, you got to get involved and we got to make sure we clean up those things and (Carter), end up having that muffed punt. He was calling ‘poison’ out, which means get away from it and then ended up hitting him first and then it’s unfortunate,” Eberflus said. “But, I love his response. His response was great, him getting that big kick return to put us in position to score.” The more pressing concern as the Bears prepare to face the Lions is the run defense. Vikings running back Aaron Jones had over 100 rushing yards. Detroit has a much more ferocious rushing attack as they are one of the best running offenses in the league. Their backfield features perhaps the league’s best running back duo in former Chicago Bear David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. The defense has also failed in critical situations, such as overtime when they allowed Minnesota to have a 10-play, 68-yard drive to set up the game-winning field goal. Chicago cannot afford to have those issues against arguably the best team in the league in Detroit. “The overtime defense was not good enough. We end up getting them third and 10. I got to do a better job there making the good calls there and execution. We have to do a better job. But again, that was not what we wanted. We could win the game right there on both sides. So, we put ourselves in position there, but end up getting behind the sticks on offense,” Eberflus said. “But again, punting it away, what a great punt by Tory and almost recovered that one. They called him down on that (particular) one and we just got to operate better. I have to do a better job setting the defense up for success.” Another thing the Bears cannot have when they go against the Lions is questionable decision making by the coaching staff. With 7:26 left in the game, the Bears scored a touchdown; an extra point would have cut Minnesota’s lead to seven at that point. Instead, Chicago decided to go for the two-point conversion, which was unsuccessful. That forced them to need a two-point conversion later in the game. While that ultimately did not prove costly, the decision was still puzzling. However, Eberflus defends his decision. “We really like our two-point play and we were going to make it a touchdown wins the game,” Eberflus said. “We felt good in terms of where we were in terms of the game, how the game flow was going at that point and we thought that was our best chance to win.” Perhaps the greatest positive from this game, despite the fact that the Bears extended their losing streak to five games, is the play from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. He finished the day with a 103.1 passer rating, throwing for 340 yards and two touchdowns. Those two touchdown passes were his first since the Bears last won a football game in October when they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. “Really inspiring the whole football team and just really good execution and (Williams) did a really good job, I thought, all day … That’s a tough defense to go against with the different looks and the pressures and variation of coverage and I thought he did a really good job of finding the space … and getting the ball to our skill and he also change the speed (on) the ball that he was throwing. Sometimes, he threw it in there a dart and then sometimes he lobbed it,” Eberflus said. “He’s growing in front of our eyes and (Sunday) was a really good growth for him to be able to go out there and execute the way he did with a 103 passer rating and be able to get those drives going at the end to put us in position to win the game.”
