Foundation Bears Built Looks Incomplete
Over the course of the last three weeks, Bears coach Matt Eberflus has labeled this season a success in terms of putting groundwork in place for future success.
"Yeah just laying the foundation, I think that's evident to everybody that watches our games," Eberflus said. "The foundation we're laying in terms of how we play, the intensity of which we play. You can see a spirited team out there—a team that perseveres through adversity, which is what you need."
There has definitely been plenty of adversity to persevere.
'We're trying to build championship habits," Eberflus said. "I keep telling the guys that. It's championship habits. Every single week, one week at a time. And that's what we're trying to build. Because we're building a champion. That's what we're doing."
It takes excellent vision—possibly with binoculars while looking through a telescope—to see that championship coming.
The 3-10 Bears have assembled the worst pass-rushing team in the NFL. They have 16 sacks, last in the NFL. They went from fourth in the NFL with 49 to 32nd.
They are a team built on the HITS principle and the "T" stands for takeaways or taking care of the ball. While they have made in-roads taking the ball away with 15 turnovers forced, they are 12th in the league and tied with five other teams. They could easily wind up in the bottom half of the league in takeaways.
Eberflus' first Colts defense finished 10th in takeaways.
Justin Fields and the offense have committed 18 turnovers and only five teams have committed more.
The "S" stands for smart play and the Bears have done better limiting penalties. They are committing 5.2 a game, fifth in the league.
The hustle and intensity are very subjective terms, but when they do have Justin Fields on the field they play close games against better teams. Then again, this is also deceptive. Their coverage units on special teams are hustling to pin teams back and they run to the ball on defense. Their offensive line doesn't quit and anyone who ever saw David Montgomery run knows what it means to refuse to go down easy.
Then again, Montgomery might not even be here next year.
"The culture is there," Eberflus said. "The way we treat each other with respect. Guys work their tail off every single day. And that's what I'm most proud of. And our coaching staff has done a great job of leading the group early on."
There is no way to quantify any of this.
There is a case for the coaching staff working hard to lead the team because the Bears obviously lack talent and have managed to stay close in most games. However, they don't get results with a victory here or there. They've played mediocre teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions and still lost.
The real measure of how far they've come and how they fight under this coaching staff is about to be put on display with the season's finish. They must play three Super Bowl contenders and a Lions team with four wins in five weeks. It's the kind of schedule to make a young team with injury problems fold up the tent, so to speak.
Eberflus would doubt this will happen.
"Now we're starting to see the leadership of the team," Eberflus said. "We can see those guys starting to rise up, like Justin and different guys on the team."
Fields definitely has risen on offense. Much is made of Jack Sanborn on defense and he has risen above his entry level to the NFL, but he isn't a team leader or standout player. He is a middle linebacker who makes a lot of tackles and not necessarily impact plays.
Jaylon Johnson is a good player but with one career interception he'll never get mentioned in the same category as players like the Rams' Jalen Ramsey or even Green Bay's Jaire Alexander. He admitted as much this week.
If the foundation has been laid, as Eberflus contends, it is one with plenty of gaps in it.
Next year they'll still be putting down more of it instead of contending for anything, regardless of how much cash they have available in free agency or how many draft picks they have early in rounds.
It's never been more apparent this rebuild is the long version instead of the short version.
What They've Done Better
- They built a running game. There is no doubt about this. They took two running backs already with the team, combined it with Justin Fields' blazing speed and gradually pieced together an offensive line capable of blocking it. First in rushing is difficult to achieve. Their lead at 2,459 is almost 400 yards ahead of the next-best team. They are No. 1 in rushing first downs (128), yards per carry (5.4) and number of runs 40 yards or longer (6). Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy took an obvious talent in Fields' running and formed an offense based on his dangerous QB. The Eagles did something similar and led the NFL in rushing last year before expanding on it to produce this year's overall success, but they also had numerous other pieces of their foundation in place such as a strong defense.
- To a some extent, they cover passes better. Even with injuries in the secondary, they have improved from last in the league in passer rating against at 103.3 to 25th at 94.3. They had eight interceptions last year and nine now. But they've dropped from third in passing yards allowed to 14th. Still, considering the lack of pass rush they have improved in coverage overall.
- Passing. You can look at their overall passing yards and see they are worse than last year, ranked last all year long in yards after they were 25th in 2021. However, this is because they've run it so much more than last year. They have fewer interceptions with 11 after throwing 20 last year. With four games left they need three TD passes to pass last year's total of 16 even with fewer attempts. Their passer rating of 84.5 is better than last year's 75.5 so they have been more efficient. They are 12th in yards per pass at 7.5 while last year they were 24th at 6.7.
What They've Done Worse
- Stopping the run. they're 30th stopping the run at 1,902 yards allowed after finishing 23rd last year at 2,127 allowed. They give up 4.7 yards a rush this year after allowing 4.4 last year.
- Rushing the passer. They were fourth in the league with 49 sacks last year. They are last now with 16 sacks. Curiously, they are No. 3 in hurries this year at 9.9%, which is getting the quarterback to throw the ball before they want or after being forced out of the pocket. They were only 28th at this last year. But the inability to get sacks has rendered their pass defense exposed much of the time.
- Covering kicks and returning punts. They went from 15th at 21.43 yards allowed per kick return to 31st this year at 26.24 with a very critical TD allowed to Cordarrelle Patterson. They went from fourth returning punts last year at 11.7 per return to 18th at 8.6 this year, with two very big muffed punts.
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