Eberflus says Williams’ footwork was off, concern about Odunze’s knee |
CHICAGO - Chicago’s 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans in their regular season opener showed once again why head coach Matt Eberflus calls the defensive plays and why his defense is one of the best in the league, generating three turnovers in the fourth quarter including the game-winning touchdown from cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.
However, there was not as much to be excited about on the offense. The debut of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams may have led to a win, but the numbers were incredibly underwhelming, with a 48.3 completion percentage and 93 total passing yards. While there are some concerns about his accuracy going into the second week of the season, when the Bears will face off against the Houston Texans on Sunday, Sept. 15 (7:20 p.m. / NBC). Eberflus is not worried about his performance. “His footwork (was) a little off at times. But, again, he threw a lot of good passes too,” Eberflus said. “I thought his vision was good. I thought he was good. I thought he saw it well. I thought he saw the coverage contours. He saw zero then adjusted on the fly. In terms of post-snap, I thought he did a nice job.” One crucial thing Williams did not do was turn the ball over. It is common for rookies to try to force plays or make something happen when it would be better to throw the ball away or even take a sack in some situations. However, the Heisman winner did not fall victim to that. He did have one fumble but recovered his fumble. For wide receiver DJ Moore, also did not have the numbers he probably would have liked, with only 36 receiving yards. He did give Chicago two first downs off his five receptions and was the leading receiver of the game for the Bears. Eberflus really liked how Moore played in the season opener, particularly his overall operation and ability to run after the catch. “We thought DJ had a really good performance in terms of his operation and his catching and running after the catch,” Eberflus said. “My favorite play for him was the one he dug it out when we were going to a four-minute mode. I threw a screen out there, gave a little hesitation and got it out of there and dug it out there to be able to flip the field. I thought that was a really nice play by him.” Playing the Titans was not only a regular season debut for Williams but also for rookie receiver Rome Odunze. The bright side for Odunze - he recorded his first NFL reception. The downside - he is injured. He sustained a knee injury during the game and had an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Odunze sprained his MCL and is concerned week-to-week. Eberflus is incredibly familiar with the Texans as he faced their offense eight times during his four years as the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. He has only gone against them once as the head coach for Chicago; the Bears prevailed 23-20. Overall, Eberflus has not lost to the Texans since 2019. While Chicago has only played Houston a total of six times, the least number of times out of any active NFL franchise, the Bears have not lost to the Texans since the season opener in 2016 when John Fox was the head coach. None of the players on Chicago’s active roster were with the team for that game.
