A year ago at this time, Matt Eberflus was under fire — with the Bears 0-3 and outscored 106-47, Justin Fields regressing, Luke Getsy’s offense spinning its wheels and people still wondering whatever happened to defensive coordinator Alan Williams.
And just when it looked like Eberflus had righted the ship with a 28-7 lead over the Broncos and the great Sean Payton at Soldier Field in Week 4 he sank even lower, caught in the undertow of a dispiriting collapse. The Broncos scored 24 unanswered points, including a defensive score when Fields was strip-sacked, in a 31-28 loss. It would take weeks — and GM Ryan Poles’ clutch mid-season acquisition of Montez Sweat — for Eberflus just to come up for air.
Eberflus was set up to slip into a similar predicament Sunday at Soldier Field, coming off a bad loss to the Colts last week — with a precarious lead heading into the fourth quarter and the great Sean McVay on the other sideline.
Only this time, it was Eberflus who came out ahead and earned a measure of redemption by winning a game he had to win. And with a bonus — beleaguered offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s offense helped seal a 24-18 victory.
After a challenging week of reflection, listening and communication, Eberflus’ team responded like well-coaches teams are expected to do.
“That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna respond,” Eberflus said. “Every single week you have issues. We won the game [but] you still have issues you need to work on. We’re gonna celebrate this win for 24 hours. We’re gonna look at the tape and pinpoint things we need to improve on. We do that every week. That’s how you get better as a football team.”
This wasn’t quite a breakthrough performance against a short-handed Rams team missing standout wide receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp and no longer with All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald. But it was still something Eberflus badly needed — progress. Eberflus pushed most of the right buttons a week after it looked like he didn’t know the right button from the wrong one.
And his players made him look good. The Bears’ foiled a Rams two-point conversion that would have tied the game at 17 early in the fourth quarter, but the Bears forced an incompletion, with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson defending.
The Rams had two chances to take the lead in the final 6:25. But rookie Tory Taylor’s 66-yard punt pinned the Rams at their 8 on the first possession —and the defense forced a three-and-out. And safety Jaquan Brisker intercepted Matthew Stafford on the first play of the second possession to clinch it.
A big win for the Bears. A bigger win for Matt Eberflus.
“We all love him in here. He’s been outstanding,” tight end Cole Kmet said in the Bears’ locker room. “He’s done a good job of being a facilitator between us and Shane and the rest of the offensive staff. Obviously he’s got to be on defense [as the play-caller], but he’s done a good job of implementing himself in the offense in terms of getting things right and sorted.”
Waldron, after an even more tumultuous week than Eberflus, even seemed to finally get some footing in the second half after a rough first half that had Soldier Field fans booing. On back-to-back possessions, the Bears drove 74 yards on 12 plays for a touchdown in the third quarter, then 70 yards on five plays for another touchdown and a 24-15 lead in the fourth. The third-quarter drive marked the first time this season the Bears did not have a negative play on a drive longer than five plays. Around here, that’s progress.
“It’s just us being on the same page,” quarterback Caleb Williams said, “and it started with the communication throughout the week — us talking about the flow of the game. And when we get into a rhythm, let it go.
“Like today, [D’Andre] Swift — I think we ran the ball back-to-back before his [36-yard touchdown] run. Things like that. Us just being on the same page, communicating on the sideline, being better at that.”