Eberflus on another dominant defensive performance, going to London on Monday |
CHICAGO—While the Chicago Bears scored 36 points in their win against the Carolina Panthers, this victory was a team effort. The Bears played well in all three phases of the ball.
The numbers for rookie punter Tory Taylor were not as high as last week, but he was also working against the wind on some of his punts. “Complementary football is a big thing, and that’s really just working off each other. So, (we) saw that a lot today. At the end of the half, you saw it. Takeaways, scored on those. We had three takeaways to zero, which is a good number, and we scored 16 points off of that. I thought the kicking game did a nice job of scoring points when they had to and setting field position,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “It was windy out there today. So, the punt game for sure, punting the one way was an issue. Kicking towards our tunnel was better. So, there’s a lot of things that our cover teams did a nice job of as well.” Once again, the defense put on a clinic. After allowing a touchdown on Carolina’s opening drive, the Panthers would not get in the end zone for the rest of the game. The Chicago defense forced three turnovers - an interception and two fumble recoveries. They had four sacks on the day while five different players contributing to that total. "So, defensively, the guys, they had the sacks. The four-to-one sack ratio against our opponent today was obviously big for us. That’s a big thing for us and I thought that was really good and some of those, we caused some takeaways in those critical moments and guys have done a good job with that,” Eberflus said. “I was really proud of the guys that recovered those fumbles because to get a recovered fumble, you have to be hustling the way we do it. It just doesn’t show up (because) we expect everybody to punch at the ball, and then when the ball comes out, that person’s hustling (because) he anticipated that ball was going to be there, and it doesn’t happen, but only a couple times a game. So, you have to be going and I’m proud of the guys that way.” Second-year defensive lineman came into this week with three sacks, tied for No. 13 in the NFL through the first four weeks of the season. He added to that total against Carolina with another sack, bringing his total to four and he now has a sack in four out of five games this season. Cornerback Kyler Gordon got his first sack of the season and his second week in a row with a fumble recovery. Safety Kevin Byard III had his first interception of the season. He has now had at least one interception every season since 2017. In summary, they had another dominant defensive performance. Now, they will cross the pond and go to London to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sun. Oct. 13 (8:30 a.m. / NFL Network). The Jaguars are coming off their first win while the Bears are trying to keep pace in the NFC North as they still sit tied with the Green Bay Packers at the bottom of the division after getting to 3-2. Eberflus is taking a more unusual approach to the London game, traveling there earlier than most other teams to allow the players to acclimate to the six-hour time difference. “Just to get over there and get our clocks right. That’s a big science part of it. I went to Italy this summer, and I’ll tell you, it takes you a couple of days to get there. So, I’m all in for that. But, that’s all it was, just the science of it,” Eberflus said. “We’ll go there Monday, get there Tuesday morning. The players have their day off that day, which is normal. Then, they’ll bring them back in on Wednesday, and we’ll have a walkthrough practice to get their bodies ready to go, and then from there, we’ll be normal business operations there. Thursday will be our normal first, second and third. Friday will be our red zone day. Saturday will be the walkthrough, and then Sunday, we’ll play the game.”
