Future and Not History Concerns Bears
NFL teams in eight-game losing streaks normally have folded up the tents long ago or are looking forward to regime change.
Then there are those in the first year of a complete rebuild like the Bears.
There are still smiles and players joke around, kidding and hollering at each other in the locker room like opening day is approaching.
The Bears are on the verge of setting a franchise record with a ninth-straight loss and they're up-beat, talking about a win in Detroit and thinking about the future.
"Yeah, I just think there's so much to look forward to," said tight end Cole Kmet, named winner Wednesday of the 2022 Jeff Dickerson Good Guy Award. "You can see where this thing's going. And just the steps we've taken from Week 1 to now, and I mean, really from Day 1 of OTAs to this point. You've seen those steps grow and us grow as a team. I'm looking forward to it.
"We're going to add pieces here (in the offseason) obviously and continue moving forward with this thing. But I think there's a lot to be optimistic about."
In losing streaks, they rely on leaders to keep their heads. It's part of the reason they like Justin Fields so much.
"I feel like I've always been kind of level-headed like that but you know it's never going to (always) go your way, it's never going to be perfect," Fields said. "So when you do hit that adversity or when you do hit that point in the game where something went wrong, the only answer is to just keep your head down, keep going and keep fighting and keep playing each play out and keep going.
'You can't worry about what happened last game or the last drive. You've got to move and just say 'F it' and go play."
While teams losing eight straight can be firing coaches or getting ready to do it, the Bears credit Matt Eberflus and staff with putting together a framework for future success.
Eberflus calls it laying a foundation.
"I think our culture, like I've been saying all year, no matter what's happened the week before, everybody comes in the same, with the same energy," Fields said. "The coaches do a great job staying on us, staying on the leaders of the team to bring that energy every day in practice and just having that mindset, just getting better each and every day and just approaching each day differently and resetting after each day and just coming in getting better that day."
Eberflus simply puts getting better back onto the players' laps individually.
"It's just your attitude—do you have an attitude that we're getting better or we're improving?" Eberflus said. "We're laying foundation and you have a positive attitude but also a realistic attitude. How can I get better? How can I make corrections? How can I improve myself? And how can I improve the unit?
"And I think when guys look at performance that way I think it's easy, or easier, when you have adversity to stay positive and the guys have done that all year."
It's easier to overlook adversity in Year 1.
They're hoping they don't need to endu2re something like this in Year 2.
Longest Bears Losing Streaks
Single Season
8
1978, 2002, 2022
7
1997
6
1969, 1973, 1989, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2020
Over 2 Seasons
8
1996-97, 2014-15, 1968-69
6
1971-72, 1999-00, 2016-17
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