As the final whistle blew on Sunday Night, the Chicago Bears fell to a 2-6 record in 2023. If the season wasn’t already lost, it’s assuredly lost now.
Matt Eberflus can take pride in knowing that this game was (probably) his fastest defeat yet — it only took 20 football minutes for ESPN’s Win Probability metric to assign Los Angeles a 95+% chance to win the game, and unfortunately the actual play on the field only served to reinforce the sense of dread that has become normalized within the Eberflus era.
The Chargers could move the ball at will. Tyson Bagent threw an early interception. Once the Bears’ offense finally found the endzone, Los Angeles scored another touchdown to immediately answer what little offense the Bears could muster. With a halftime score of 7-24, you knew that the game was already over… but as the team stumbled and fell for the 20th time in Matt Eberflus’ first 25 games, one silver lining appeared:
There are no more excuses for Matt Eberflus or his staff to hide behind, and the Bears’ front office knows it. The expression on Kevin Warren’s face last night says it all.
https://twitter.com/_MarcusD3_/status/1718819985055744474
While nothing’s more normal than a Bears-focused blogger writing a post about the shortcomings of Chicago’s coaches, last night’s game stood out to me for several reasons:
- Matt Eberflus had the opportunity to show that without Justin Fields in the lineup, his vision of a ball-control offense could contend with the NFL’s best teams. Instead, Chicago averaged just 2.9 Yards per Carry and the offense failed to score until the game was nearly out of reach.
- Matt Eberflus had the opportunity to show that his defense can slow down & stop one of the NFL’s best young QB talents. Instead, his defense allowed 15 straight completions to open the game, 6.6 yards/play on the Chargers’ first 5 drives, and as easy a 298-yard day through the air as I’ve seen from Chicago’s opponents this season. The defense could barely even compete.
- Matt Eberflus had the opportunity to show that his hard coaching style could result in focused, high-yield play in big games. Instead, the Bears took silly penalties early & often (Patrick’s Hands To The Face, Velus’s Fair Catch Interference) and failed to tackle consistently.
