Eberflus on injuries, Herbert trade, offensive line issues |
CHICAGO—The Chicago Bears' injuries are piling up. Defensive lineman Andrew Billings tore his pec and will have surgery, while safety Jaquan Brisker is expected to be out for his fourth straight game against the New England Patriots this coming Sunday (Noon/FOX).
“Brisker is still working through his concussion, really (the) same as last week. So, it looks like he’ll be out for this week again, and then during the game, Billings hurt his pec (and) he’ll be having surgery here coming up in the next day or two. So, he’ll be out for quite some time. (The) two tackles that we are (working) in there - (offensive lineman) Braxton Jones, (he’s) progressing well. But, we’ll see where he is. He (did not) practice (Wednesday),” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “(Offensive lineman Darnell) Wright also (did not) practice (Wednesday). So, we’ll see where those guys are in terms of the combinations there. We just have to see where it goes during the course of this week … (Cornerback Kyler) Gordon (came) back today. He’ll be in there for individual and some limited reps. We’re excited about that. (Edge rusher Montez Sweat was) back, also (cornerback Terell Smith was) back coming (from) that injury he had in the game in a limited fashion and then (offensive lineman Darrell) Taylor. (He was) limited (Wednesday), but he should be good to go.” Trading running back Khalil Herbert was not exactly surprising. What the Bears got for him was also not a shock as all Chicago got for him was the Cincinnati Bengals’ seventh-round draft selection. Eberflus said he spoke to Herbert after the trade, as well as some of the coaches on the Bengals coaching staff. “I talked to him and thanked him for his dedication and hard work. I really appreciate him. A couple (of) guys from that staff called me. I told them really good things about him in terms of his work ethic, his character. It’s good to see that opportunity for him,” Eberflus said. “(General manager) Ryan (Poles is) always working on improving our roster and also improving our draft status and getting draft capital and all those things and obviously did a nice job there.” Perhaps something that is a little surprising is rookie quarterback Drake Maye’s running ability last week in New England’s game against the Tennessee Titans. He had 95 rushing yards in that performance; in his four starts so far this year, Maye has 197 rushing yards. Given Chicago’s defensive problems against the run and mobile quarterbacks, Maye’s rushing ability could play a large role in this game for the Bears. “He’s operated really good in some situations. I know that, unfortunately, he had a concussion a couple of games ago and got pulled out of there. But again, he’s really fast, he’s got really good athletic ability,” Eberflus said. “You really got to worry about the QB scramble, obviously, with the amount of yards he had last week on that and I think his rhythm and timing is good when he keeps it there and he’s accurate. He’s got the ability to throw the ball down the field, got good vision.” Chicago will also have to get their offense back on track, which will be difficult to do with five offensive linemen currently on the injury report although two of them (Ryan Bates and Teven Jenkins) participated in full on Wednesday. Even with the starters in early in the season, the offensive line has struggled. Through the first eight games, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has been sacked 29 times. Eberflus said that sacks are a problem with the entire offense, not just the offensive line, although he said they are trying to change the starting lineup as little as possible going into Sunday. “Sacks are an everybody thing. So, sometimes it’s you got to keep the pocket firm on the inside and we’ve done that at times and then it’s also about route discipline, making sure you’re where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there and it’s also about rhythm and timing of the quarterback. So, you can’t put it on one group. It’s about the running backs when they’re in protection, if they happen to be in protection on a linebacker or a nickel. They got to be solid too. If they’re in scat protection and they’re out in the route, they got to have great route discipline to do that. So, it’s ever one group or one thing. It’s got to be collectively as a group and we just got to do that better as a group,” Eberflus said. “When you’re down a couple starters, that’s always a challenge and the guys have to (step) in there (and) perform and do it at a high level. We’ve cross-chained a lot of guys over the course of this time and during training camp during the early part of the season and (we’re) going to have to really function that way. But, we try to make it less moves as possible. If you can make one move, that’s great. You don’t like to make two moves if you can help it. So, we’ll try to do that.”
