- Thread starter
- #1
BigKen
Day to Day
Bears and Justin Fields invade Foxboro for a Monday night game.
Seems the staff isn't happy with the 2-4 Bears.
Alex Shapiro
Fri, October 14, 2022 at 5:59 PM·3 min read
In this article:
Bears to re-evaluate every player before next game originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Bears have some serious self-scouting to do. Six games into the season, they sit at 2-4. At times they’ve looked good, both on offense and defense. Other times they’ve looked awful, again on offense and defense. With 10 days between games, Matt Eberflus and the rest of the coaching staff will take advantage of the mini bye week to do extra evaluations to see what’s been working, what hasn’t been working and what changes the team needs to make to give themselves a better chance of winning on a weekly basis moving forward.

“We need to look at each individual guy,” Eberflus said. “We’re spending time during this mini bye to evaluate each guy first. We come up with three things they’re doing well right now and three things they need to improve on, and the plan for each guy fundamentally to improve on that. That’s a very important piece for us to grow as a football team.
“We’re gonna look at the lineups, where people are, are we putting guys in a position to succeed. Is there anything that can create competition at any position on the football team? That’s healthy for us, to be able to do that going forward.”
It’s serious talk from the head coach about some possible big moves, not just minor tweaks. Eberflus wouldn’t say if any specific player was on thin ice, like Braxton Jones at left tackle or Velus Jones Jr. at punt returner, instead reiterating that the coaches would look at every single player at every single position. It didn’t sound like typical coach speak, either. Eberflus sounded like a man who knew the Bears weren’t doing enough to win, and needed some changes on the field. Those changes may not be limited to personnel decisions, either.
“Then look at scheme, look at offensive scheme, defensive scheme and special teams, the exact same thing,” Eberflus said. “Things we’re doing well, things we need to improve on and how we’re gonna go about that.”
We’ve seen examples of some of those changes already. Alan Williams blitzed the Commanders much more often than the Bears usually do on Thursday night, and the change of philosophy paid off on critical downs. Eberflus said part of the decision to bring extra rushers was part of the specific gameplan to stymie the Commanders, but said part of that decision was because of the Bears’ ineffective pass rush against the Vikings.
“We got together, we didn’t play very good on third down the week before,” Eberflus said. “We looked at what we were doing and, you know, you put your heads together and you come up with a plan.”
The Bears have a 24-hour rule they put in place for both wins and losses, meaning they want players to sit with either the joy of a win, or the disappointment of a defeat for just one day. After that, coaches want the players to reset their minds and start looking forward again. The especially heartbreaking loss on Thursday, coupled with some tough, honest criticism could be the biggest challenge for the Bears’ young players and that 24-hour rule, though. So the Bears want to guard against letting this one loss snowball into more bad games with how they communicate to the players over the mini bye.
“We have to do a good job of keeping everything in perspective, that we are growing, we are getting better and really working on with each individual player,” Eberflus said. “That’s our whole part of the plan. This is what you’re doing well, this is what you need to improve on, here’s our plan to get that done. I think when you have a mindset of growth that way, you will improve, and you will get better. Then our units will function better, more consistently.
“We have a young football team and we’re gonna figure out how to finish and how to close games. We’ll have a plan for that.”
Seems the staff isn't happy with the 2-4 Bears.
Alex Shapiro
Fri, October 14, 2022 at 5:59 PM·3 min read
In this article:
-
Chicago Bears
Oct 24, 8:15 PMvsNE
Matt Eberflus
American football coach
Bears to re-evaluate every player before next game originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Bears have some serious self-scouting to do. Six games into the season, they sit at 2-4. At times they’ve looked good, both on offense and defense. Other times they’ve looked awful, again on offense and defense. With 10 days between games, Matt Eberflus and the rest of the coaching staff will take advantage of the mini bye week to do extra evaluations to see what’s been working, what hasn’t been working and what changes the team needs to make to give themselves a better chance of winning on a weekly basis moving forward.

“We need to look at each individual guy,” Eberflus said. “We’re spending time during this mini bye to evaluate each guy first. We come up with three things they’re doing well right now and three things they need to improve on, and the plan for each guy fundamentally to improve on that. That’s a very important piece for us to grow as a football team.
“We’re gonna look at the lineups, where people are, are we putting guys in a position to succeed. Is there anything that can create competition at any position on the football team? That’s healthy for us, to be able to do that going forward.”
It’s serious talk from the head coach about some possible big moves, not just minor tweaks. Eberflus wouldn’t say if any specific player was on thin ice, like Braxton Jones at left tackle or Velus Jones Jr. at punt returner, instead reiterating that the coaches would look at every single player at every single position. It didn’t sound like typical coach speak, either. Eberflus sounded like a man who knew the Bears weren’t doing enough to win, and needed some changes on the field. Those changes may not be limited to personnel decisions, either.
“Then look at scheme, look at offensive scheme, defensive scheme and special teams, the exact same thing,” Eberflus said. “Things we’re doing well, things we need to improve on and how we’re gonna go about that.”
We’ve seen examples of some of those changes already. Alan Williams blitzed the Commanders much more often than the Bears usually do on Thursday night, and the change of philosophy paid off on critical downs. Eberflus said part of the decision to bring extra rushers was part of the specific gameplan to stymie the Commanders, but said part of that decision was because of the Bears’ ineffective pass rush against the Vikings.
“We got together, we didn’t play very good on third down the week before,” Eberflus said. “We looked at what we were doing and, you know, you put your heads together and you come up with a plan.”
The Bears have a 24-hour rule they put in place for both wins and losses, meaning they want players to sit with either the joy of a win, or the disappointment of a defeat for just one day. After that, coaches want the players to reset their minds and start looking forward again. The especially heartbreaking loss on Thursday, coupled with some tough, honest criticism could be the biggest challenge for the Bears’ young players and that 24-hour rule, though. So the Bears want to guard against letting this one loss snowball into more bad games with how they communicate to the players over the mini bye.
“We have to do a good job of keeping everything in perspective, that we are growing, we are getting better and really working on with each individual player,” Eberflus said. “That’s our whole part of the plan. This is what you’re doing well, this is what you need to improve on, here’s our plan to get that done. I think when you have a mindset of growth that way, you will improve, and you will get better. Then our units will function better, more consistently.
“We have a young football team and we’re gonna figure out how to finish and how to close games. We’ll have a plan for that.”