Eberflus updates several injuries including Caleb Williams |
TEMPE, A.Z. - After Chicago’s 29-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, it seems fair to say the sky is falling for the Bears. They are winless on the road this season; in fact, they have not beaten a team on the road since week 12 of last season.
Despite another painful loss, head coach Matt Eberflus said after the game that he believes everyone is still bought into the team's potential. “We’ve built those relationships over time and my buy-in is all in and I know theirs is too and we got a lot of football to play,” Eberflus said. “We got nine games in the regular season and again, we’re starting out, it’s 4-4 and we got those games to play and it starts with next week.” The game started out manageable. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 7-0 in favor of Arizona. With under a minute left in the first half, it was a five-point game. However, the end of the first half marked the second half in a row Chicago allowed a 50 plus yard touchdown within the final 30 seconds of the half. When running back Emari Demercado broke away from a 53-yard rushing touchdown on third and five with 12 seconds left in the half, that shifted momentum completely in the Cardinals’ favor. The Bears did not have much of a chance after that and failed to score in the entire second half. “Obviously very disappointed in the game. It started off, we had six to seven there and we had that penalty, the leverage penalty, and again, I was talking to the officials about it, exactly what that was (in) terms of what happened out there. So, I’ll get some clarifications on that. But, that was obviously a big play in the game and then the score (at) the end of the half and to me, that’s on me,” Eberflus said. “I called a pass defense, a pass pressure, and they end up running the ball and again, I can make a better call there. So, that’s on me. I do believe that our defense needs a shore up and again, when you have a big run like that, obviously the numbers go up. But, we know how to do it. We’ve done it in the past. It’s important that with the same guys, it’s important that we shore that up and make sure we do a better job (starting) with the coaches and then the players after that.” Chicago averaged a dismal 3.4 yards per play compared to Arizona’s 6.1 yards per play. The Bears also only converted three of their 14 third-down attempts. They allowed the Cardinals over 200 rushing yards; all three of Arizona’s rushing touchdowns came on the ground. That is the recipe for losing a football game, even when you win the time of possession and the turnover battle. “It’s overall not good enough - not good enough by the players and coaches, by the staff. Everybody’s involved and that’s what I said to the guys in there, starts with the coaches putting you in position to make plays and we didn’t do a good enough job of that today and then we got to take an inward look everybody as we go forward here and working into tomorrow, guys will be in the building here before noon and start the next week,” Eberflus said. “We got to find some good answers for putting our guys in position and we got to do a great job of executing this week. We’re 4-4 right now, a halfway point through and starting a new season right now and to me, it’s about hitting this first victory and being 1-0 this week.” To add insult to injury, these lost multiple players during the game to injury. One was offensive lineman Darnell Wright who suffered a knee injury. Cornerback Terell Smith also left the game with an injury, and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams tweaked his ankle right at the end of the game. There are questions as to why Williams was even in the game at that point when it was clearly out of reach. The mix shift offensive line, already down multiple starters due to injury, struggled all game, allowing Williams to be sacked six times. “When you protect your quarterback, and our quarterback’s a good quarterback, and when you protect him, he can get the ball down the field and do a good job there,” Eberflus said. “I saw he tweaked his ankle.” They return home this coming Sunday to face the New England Patriots (Noon / FOX), who have a 2-7 record. So far this season, Chicago is undefeated at home. This game allows them to get back on track before facing the Green Bay Packers in their first division game of the season on Sunday, Nov. 17 (Noon/FOX).
