Eberflus explains epic fail on Hail Mary play in loss to Commanders |
CHICAGO - The end of the game was a disaster for the Chicago Bears in their 18-15 loss against the Washington Commanders. However, the pain fans felt from the game-winning hail mary from the Commanders was compounded when videos surfaced of Chicago’s cornerback, Tyrique Stevenson, appearing to taunt the Washington crowd during the hail mary attempt.
While the play sparked outrage across the league, head coach Matt Eberflus did not seem to make much of it. “It’s great to have passion and I think it’s great to have that great enthusiasm for the game. But, it also comes to a point where your emotions go over the top, and then you lose focus, and you got to have to be able to have that balance if you’re that type of player that plays with great intensity like Tyrique does, to be able to have that so it doesn’t go over the top and you lose your focus and your concentration and that’s for anybody and each position is different,” Eberflus said. “Obviously, you can play at a higher temperature if you’re playing (defensive) tackle or something like that or inside. But, you got to really wire into your responsibilities there as you go forward.” The Hail Mary went wrong before the ball was ever snapped. First, the Chicago defense did not seem prepared for the play, which is why some wondered why Eberflus did not use a timeout. In addition, the Bears used linebacker T.J. Edwards as a spy. It does not make sense why Chicago elected to have a spy on a hail mary, which was compounded by the game's end result. “(Edwards) has the back in that situation. So, he was doing his job,” Eberflus said. “Everybody was lined up in the correct position and then we just were ready to go. We already had showed those diagrams before. We were ready to go for that play. Like I said, we’ve practiced that multiple times, a couple times a week and multiple times since we’ve been here. So, again, it comes down to wiring into your responsibilities.” Backing up to the play before the Hail Mary, Chicago essentially gave the Commanders a free 13 yards to get them in range to attempt the Hail Mary. That decision has been widely questioned, as Washington could not even attempt the Hail Mary without those yards. Eberflus explained his strategy when speaking with the media on Monday, although it does not seem to hold ground. “If you want to play sideline defense, what they’re going to do is they’re going to convert to the hail mary right there and then just run everybody off the sideline. Then, you got to pick them up from the sideline and do the same job that you’re going to do in the hail mary,” Eberflus said. “So, to me, we wanted to just bring them up so we wouldn’t get something that’s too far down the field, which was to the 48, and then we set up for our hail mary at the end.” Besides the debacle on the final drive, there was a lot wrong for Chicago in the first 59 and a half minutes. The offense failed to put up any points until there was less than a minute left in the third quarter. Running back D’Andre Swift put the Bears on the board with a 56-yard touchdown run near the end of the third, but when Chicago was at the one-yard line to take the lead in the game, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron opted to call a play that gave the ball to offensive lineman Doug Kramer. The ball was fumbled and Washington subsequently recovered. Although Eberflus calls plays for the defense, as the head coach, he is ultimately responsible for decisions like that. This is especially true at such an important point in the game. Eberflus stated that he is involved in the play calling and agreed with that decision. However, he is most proud of how the defense kept Chicago in the game, putting the offense in a position to potentially win it. “I’m involved in the play calling and working with those guys in between series and giving suggestions during the course of the game and obviously when you have a start like that, it’s obviously not the way you want it to go,” Eberflus said. “But again, I was proud of the guys, the way they did eventually work into there and find some good answers there into the third quarter, into the fourth quarter to put us in (a) winning position. So, the guys did a nice job of that, being able to figure that out through it. Again, we have to come to that answer much faster. But again, defense kept us in it with a bunch of field goals, four field goals, 12 points with (one) of the best scoring teams in football at this time. So, I was proud of those guys for that and then us responding there and scoring that at the very end to be able to put us in a winning position.”
