Grading the Bears

A week ago Matt Eberflus looked like a lock to keep his job.

It seemed only the Justin Fields question needed answering after a 28-13 win over Detroit.

Then the Bears gave away a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter for the third time this season, tying them for the most times doing this in NFL history for a single season.

Sunday's 20-17 loss not only cast more doubt on Justin Fields' ability to lead a team back in the fourth quarter like any QB must be able to do but it has to also bring Eberflus' situation back into play.

Losing to the Browns and an elite defense is one thing. Losing three leads this way can't instill confidence in what he's doing on defense or coaching the full team. The end of that game was not complementary football.

This was a Browns offense taking his defense apart down the stretch with four backup offensive linemen on the field and a quarterback who was watching games on TV a little over three weeks ago.

Sure, the defense is looking spectacular much of the time. Interceptions are raining down. They now lead the NFL in interceptions with 18 one year after they couldn't find one with a poor mix of low-budget players on defense.

"I loved the way our guys battled there at the end," coach Matt Eberflus said, trying to paint this historical athletic catastrophe in as positive a light as possible. "That was a good football team we played today. There were a lot of good pass rushers. They put some pressure on us, obviously an experienced quarterback. My hat's off to Cleveland."

Paying respects is fine but giving away games to teams with quarterbacks so experienced they need to be in a broadcast booth or doing analysis on the internet is not fine.

Eberflus is going to need to prove a little more before anyone can feel comfortable about him going forward to next year, even if his defense is doing exactly what it's designed to do except in the last minute.

Here are the grades for a team that takes eight plays to score from the 1-yard line and gets three defensive penalties to do it, and makes an old street free agent QB look better than when he won a Super Bowl 11 years ago.

Rushing: D-

You can use that excuse about Cleveland's defensive front being so good but they were missing a pair of defensive tackles and the last five teams averaged 125 yards rushing against them with only one team gaining less than 106 yards against them. And that was when the Browns defense was healthier. So they were leaking on the ground badly and Bears running backs managed 38 yards on 17 carries. Even Fields couldn't break free. If it wasn't for Velus Jones Jr. being used a bit like Deebo Samuel and running well on two carries, and Roschon Johnson breaking one long run in the late going, they would have had a complete disaster. The fourth-down run by Fields when he was tripped up inches short of the first down running wide is entirely on Fields. He got into the open field and seemed to be floating rather than sprinting, then took off and got tripped up. The play was well blocked and a conversion there would have been huge.

Passing: D-

The pass blocking failed to keep Fields clean much of the day and his pass drops were often scary adventures, waiting for another hit on him. Both Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick experienced trouble inside blocking the rush. The two tackles did a respectable job considering who they were blocking. What happens if Robert Tonyan Jr. catches the early deep ball he dropped? How does Darnell Mooney drop the ball right in his lap. Sure, it's a bang-bang play and the slow-motion replay makes it look easier than it was, but of all people to be bobbling a ball in the end zone he's the last one who should after last year's debacle with Washington. Mooney shouldn't take too much heat as a Hail Mary is a low-percentage catch but still, it was right in his hands. The Bears must be leading the league in dropped catches from a sitting position in the end zone after Velus Jones did it earlier this year. Fields' throwing was inconsistent, as he missed the mark on occasion. The overthrow of Mooney at the end of the first half was one that cost them points like Tonyan's drop did. On the failed fourth-and-1 run right by Fields, he had the option of passing it and DJ Moore was wide open for a touchdown. But Fields ran and failed to get the first down. A poor passing day with 19 of 40 completions and poor decision-making day by Fields.

Run Defense: A

A few early runs broke and then Montez Sweat, Andrew Billings, DeMarcus Walker and Justin Jones put an end to it. Just 29 yards allowed matched a season-best for the Bears and it came against a team that wanted to run to take pressure off an old QB. Cleveland gave up on the run quickly because it was so thoroughly stuffed and had only 18 rushing attempts.

Pass Defense: C+

What they did on 95% of their plays in coverage or pass rush bordered on spectacular. Sweat's 2 1/2 sacks, holding the Browns to 25% (4 of 16) third-down conversions with interceptions by Tremaine Edmunds, Eddie Jackson and Tyrique Stevenson and nine pass breakups had the Browns reeling. On the other hand, giving up four pass plays of more than 30 yards in the fourth quarter, allowing three scoring drives on Cleveland's final four possessions is on the defense.

Special Teams: C-

A lost muff by Trent Taylor came on a rainy day but was his second muff of the game. They can't have that. It's what cost Velus Jones his return job. Fortunately for Taylor, Stevenson made his pick to clean up that situation. Trenton Gill had a roller-coaster type game punting, and his 44.8-yard average overall was respectable in those conditions, as was the 40.5 net. He also put two inside the 20 but they really needed it to be three and when he put it in the end zone for a touchback it made for an easier start for Cleveland on the drive to the game-tying touchdown. Santos made his short field goal but the Bears didn't give him the chance for anything else. You have to wonder whether he could have made a 51- or 52-yard field goal into the strong wind in rain but they decided against trying it.

Coaching: D

Eberflus' game plan was strong because of the pressure he kept putting on Flacco but in the end he got too cute with the pressures and came after the Browns QB unnecessarily on third-and-15. He dropped Justin Jones into pass coverage. Flacco merely dropped deeper and then dropped in a pass over Jones to David Njoku for a huge completion to set up the winning points. Eberflus' decision on going for a fourth-and-1 from the 33 seemed a bit risky in a tight game. A 50- or 51-yard field goal there would have been huge and Cairo Santos hasn't missed from beyond 50 this year. Luke Getsy's game plan in the ground attack was brutal. It didn't get Fields going enough on planned runs. When he has been allowed to do this in the past it seems to ignite both his passing and scrambling. With the ground game at a halt, they went to Velus Jones Jr. as a Deebo Samuel type, carrying out of the I-formation once and on an end-around and it work perfectly. However, they didn't go back to it. They should have used Jones on the third-and-1 end-around when they ran Tyler Scott in the fourth quarter and he was stuffed. At least Jones gives them a chance of breaking a tackle there as he's bigger and more powerful. Getsy should have been able to devise a better run scheme for the game, considering Cleveland's troubles in recent games stopping running attacks.

Overall: D+

Only math calculations are keeping the Bears from playoff elimination at this point, and the worst part of it all? Carolina managed to win a game and put the first pick of the draft pack in jeopardy for the Bears.

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