The Next Game Commands Bears Attention

Team Turbulence is doing its best to ignore the bumpy ride.

Bears players on both sides of the football claim the week's volatility, in the form of defensive coordinator Alan Williams' resignation and Justin Fields saying he's being coached into a CyberQB, has failed to make a dent in their preparations. Sunday will tell more, but then again, playing the Kansas City Chiefs is difficult with the same, full coaching staff and a smiling, happy, exprienced quarterback.

There can be little doubt the Bears are playing the Alan Williams resignation close to the vest.

Players haven't even had a meeting with the coaches about it where it's been the topic of discussion. They're plowing straight ahead in their second game without Williams, aiming at an upset under new defensive coordinator and head coach Matt Eberflus.

"Yeah, I mean he came in and he was back to his element at the end of the day," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said of Eberflus. "So I mean I feel like he's been a D-coordinator for a long time. So he came in and it's been great."

The coaching staff has managed to put its goal of stopping Patrick Mahomes in the forefront, and players say Eberflus has managed to put any emotions or feelings aside and is being himself.

That means joking with the players, and, as cornerback Tyrique Stevenson said, "...giving out quotes and nicknames and being enthusiastic, now that he's the DC he's bringing that to the defense. I can just see it with all the guys, how we're practicing now, the energy that he's bringing is definitely rubbing off on all of us."

The idea that a change of this sort can weigh down a team's defense might be realistic with another team heavily reliant on a particular coordinator or coach. However, Eberflus is the coach who brought this scheme to the Bears.

So players aren't viewing it as adversity or disruption.

"I mean basically the only adversity we've got is the losing and just turning that around," Johnson said. "That's really what we're focused on right now."

With the way college players enter transfer portals, they come into the NFL as children of change. Something like this is hardly disruptive.

"I've been playing the game of football my whole life," Stevenson said. "I've been at two colleges. I've had three, four head coaches. I just learned that you've got to stick to what you know, stick to your details, stick to who you are and everything else will line up itself."

Nor do they seem consumed with finding out the specifics of what actually happened with Williams.

"I don't make anything of it," Johnson said. "I mean, I'm just doing my job and my job is to come in here and play football, play high-level football, turn the ball over and make plays and lead this team and lead the defense. So that's what I'm doing."

The Fields situation hits a bit closer to home because he is their leader and playmaker, but in the end they pay little attention to what anyone tells the media and that's how it all started. Fields told reporters he felt he was being held back and not playing free.

"I mean look, we're all really tight in here and we understand the pressures and all the things that are kind of put on Justin, not only in this building but outside the building as well," tight end Cole Kmet said. "So look, we have a tight group in here, a great relationship with the coaches. And we kind of just understand it was a misunderstanding and all that kind of stuff. Moving on with it. So. We'll go from there."

Fields' desire to play freely is understood by players, although not necessarily 100% accepted.

"I mean, everybody want to play freely but you still gotta play within the scheme of things and then we add our own flair to it, whether it's him, me, (Darnell) Mooney, Chase (Claypool), anybody, the running backs," DJ Moore said. "We've got to make it our own."

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