All wins are a good thing for the Chicago Bears. At least, that is how it’s supposed to be. With their victory on Sunday over the Arizona Cardinals, the Bears doubled their win total from last season, going from three to six. One would think they’d be optimistic about how things are going. Yet you wouldn’t know from all the frowns on the sideline as the final seconds ticked down. Players seemed subdued, which is strange for a team that just won 27-16. Perhaps that is because they knew that, once again, it almost slipped away from them. Head coach Matt Eberflus can’t hide from the labels anymore.
Arizona is one of the worst teams in the NFL. They also have an atrocious defense. The Bears took control early, building a 21-0 lead in the first half. Then, as has become way too routine, they retreated into a shell and tried to play cautious. The Cardinals climbed back into the game, pulling to within 24-16 by the 4th quarter thanks to a Justin Fields end zone interception that led to a touchdown drive. The defense then almost gave up another score, but a bad pass from Kyler Murray bailed them out. Fields killed enough of the clock with an insurance field goal to put the game away.
Yet anybody with eyes could tell if the opponent was any better; it’s likely the Bears would’ve choked another game away.
The game was far closer than the final score appeared. Many of the same problems that have haunted this team all year remained glaringly apparent. Fields threw his sixth interception in the 4th quarter. The playcalling on offense was bad. The receiving corps couldn’t do much of anything against one of the worst secondaries in the league. Unsurprisingly, the defense was strong most of the day, but they still had some rough breakdowns in key moments. All of this gets traced back to coaching.
The Bears should be 9-6 right now and competing for a playoff spot. Their inability to execute in crunch time can’t be chalked up to bad luck or isolated incidents. It has become a trend. Too much evidence exists. Matt Eberflus hasn’t found a solution all year. There is no reason to think he will. His path forward will likely involve two sales pitches. One is the fact the team improved its record from last year, so they’re moving in the right direction. The other is a change at offensive coordinator, hopefully bringing in somebody better than Getsy.
Will GM Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren buy it? Only they can answer that.
