Eberflus on development of players, Damar Hamlin, St. Brown extension |
The Bears had a lot of struggles this season. They won two of their first three games, and then only won one game the rest of the season. There is a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done, but head coach Matt Eberflus has seen some positive signs in practice with his players.
“When you’re looking at the big picture of it, you have a core group of young guys you’re developing,” Eberflus said. “The rookies, the second-year players, those guys right there, and that’s going to be the foundational floor for what we want to develop. When you go through a season, you’re always working on developing those guys, and I think it’s important that you do that.” Second-year quarterback Justin Fields has certainly had a lot of improvement from last season to this season. First, he utilized his legs a lot more, which created more opportunities for the Bears. While he developed more in the pocket, he is still struggling a bit with decision-making. Unfortunately, Fields will not be able to finish out the season as he has been ruled out with an injury. But, Eberflus argues that he will still be able to learn and develop from the Bears' upcoming game against the Vikings (12 p.m./FOX). “Justin loves to compete. He always does,” Eberflus said. “He’ll get something out of this performance by watching the other guys, and he’ll watch the tape, and he’ll learn just like he always does.” Of course, Eberflus did also address what the NFL world has been talking about the most this week - the health of Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin. Hamlin has made remarkable improvements in the past few days and is now able to talk and communicate with his family and teammates. “I think it’s great. It’s really the power of prayer. We had a focused prayer,” Eberflus said. “We had guys break out from there and talk to their position coaches. Some of that was very emotional for guys. I think that obviously the good news certainly lifts a heavy heart when you hear that.” Following Hamlin’s collapse, there has also been a great deal of talk about the mental health of players as a whole. Eberflus stressed the importance of getting help when you need it and kicking the stigma surrounding mental health. “It’s okay to get help. It’s okay to work through those things with people,” Eberflus said. “If it’s a friend, that’s fine. If it’s a clinician, that’s fine too, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” The Bears are already starting to make some moves in preparing for the offseason, which the head coach discussed. The primary move they have made is to give wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown a one-year extension on his contract. This extension is worth $1.25 million, leaving the Bears with almost $120 million left in their salary cap for the 2023 NFL season. “(St. Brown) shows up to work every day and he works,” Eberflus said. “When you work on the practice field like him, those are the kind of guys you want to keep around.” Even though they are making moves for the future of the franchise, they are still focused on their season finale against the Vikings. If the Bears are going to have any chance of winning, they need to shut down Justin Jefferson the same way the Green Bay Packers did last week. Given the Bears’ injuries and the incredible season Jefferson is having, this will prove to be a rather difficult challenge. “Obviously, when you have historic numbers like that, that’s a really good season obviously,” Eberflus said. “He’s just a great talent. He’s very strong. He can do all the things that you want a receiver to do, and Kirk (Cousin’s) done a good job of getting him the ball this year.” If the Bears win against the Vikings, they will need the Arizona Cardinals and the Denver Broncos to both win to maintain the No. 2 seed in the NFL Draft. If one of these teams wins with the Bears winning, then the Bears will have the No. 3 seed. The worst-case scenario for Chicago is for the Bears, Cardinals, and Broncos to all win; then, they would finish with the No. 4 seed. If the Bears lose, that keeps the draft rather simple, as the Bears would have the No. 2 pick regardless of what Arizona or Denver do.
