Arrival of the Promised Bears Turnaround?

It's not all happening by accident.

The Bears reached an undeniable turning point at some point earlier and are enjoying the results. Although it's on the individual to set an exact spot where it flipped, the causes seem obvious.

One choice for the turning point seems to be when they beat Washington to begin a stretch of five wins in nine weeks after their 0-4 start. Another is the 24-17 loss at New Orleans because it coincided with the arrival of Montez Sweat on defense. Another is simply the 13-10 win over Carolina because they've taken three out of their last four starting with that one.

Whatever place of origin, this turnaround seemed to be centered around Bears coach Matt Eberflus and his defensive approach.

It's been the Eberflus defense behind three wins in four games and the takeaways they generated with 11 in the last three games. Players point to Eberflus' persistence and consistency of message for the entire team and not just the defense.

His very basic message of working hard and keeping feet in place and eyes forward has resonated.

Turnovers Don't Happen by Accident

Typical of Eberflus' attitude is how he addresses the recent run of turnovers. The old saying that turnovers or sacks come in bunches isn't accurate, Eberflus maintains. This leaves too much to coincidence.

"I don't know if I agree with come in bunches," he said. "I believe it comes from hard work and your attention to detail with it.

"I believe that what you do in practice is what you're gonna do in the game, and the guys have been doing a great job in practice and that's why you're starting to see it in the game. We need to do a better job of causing the fumbles. That number's still not where it should be. We've gotta keep hustling so we can recover those."

Safety Jaquan Brisker sees this work ethic as a common denominator for the entire team.

"It hasn't always been great but guys have been wanting to come to work and wanting to grind and want to turn this thing around," Brisker said. "So, like I've been saying these last couple of weeks, the players that we brought and the coaching staff and things like that have done a great job these last couple of weeks keeping us together."

Always Moving Upward

Keeping the team focused and moving ahead is no easy task. Things can come unraveled. As some other teams around the league have disintegrated, the Bears maintained an upward arc and hit a high point with Sunday's convincing win over the division-leading Lions. While they've kept the focus and improved, teams the Bears lost to earlier, like the Chargers and Saints, have hit tougher times.

"This team is pretty close right now," center Lucas Patrick said. "You kind of build over the season and relationships build. But it's a credit to the importance Flus has put on that since the spring, kind of all we've put into that. I think we're seeing a lot of that come to fruition now."

The tight locker room and appreciation by players for Eberflus and staff can be a self-perpetuating force. The Lions found this out last year.

Sweat's impact through the trade GM Ryan Poles engineered has to rank right up with the coaching in importance.

Sweat accomplished a season-high four quarterback hits Sunday and has 3 1/2 Bears sacks including at least one in each of the last three games.

However, the real secret to what he has meant is not in the sacks but in the way he works in with the rest of the defense to create the "Tez Effect."

"Tez has just been fantastic with his approach since he's been here," Eberflus said. "He's got great energy. He's a great teammate. And to answer your question, I would say that it's always great. It's an uptick because of a great pass rusher. That’s what he is. They have to lean more attention to him.

"You saw yesterday they were chipping him several times, which gives singles to other guys. The fact that the last sack that Double-J (Justin Jones) had, it was a pick by Tez and J comes around and has a nice sack on the last one there, which was great. That's attributed to him—he's going to pick for his teammate when he was gonna get that chip on that last one. He's been a consummate pro. To answer your question: yes, he definitely helps others. It's been an uptick in a lot of ways from the turnovers, it enabled us to play more coverage and not pressure as much on those situational downs and get home with four. That's been a big part of it."

The offense hasn't had the same startling game-turning plays but has had moments like Sunday with the 38-yard TD pass to DJ Moore, the 39-yarder TD to Moore in the first Lions game and the 36-yarder to him from Fields to set up the winning field goal in the Vikings game.

Justin Fields' Impact

The offensive side of the turnaround is all about Fields. DJ Moore has been a constant upon arrival, but it's been Fields making the improvement. If turnovers have fueled the Bears turnaround, a lack of them the other way has also been an enabling factor. Fields has no interceptions in 93 attempts since returning from his thumb dislocation and only one in his last five starts.

"He's exactly the same," Patrick said of his QB. "Y'all (media) probably want to hear that he's probably doing something different or changed or something, but no, 1's a special player but he's even a better person.

"I think people are starting to see how much this locker room has his back, how much we up front have his back. We don't like it when he gets those extra hits. We try to run up there and get there, we're just not as fast as he is. Not everybody runs a 4.3, 4.4 like he does. He's a great kid, great player, great man."

The momentum and all the factors are pointing in their favor. There's nothing that says they can't hit their goal of winning out, but the difficult assignment ahead this week in Cleveland makes it seem especially unlikely.

They're facing the top-ranked defense in the league, suddenly assisted by a veteran passer in Joe Flacco.

Still, even if they take a loss it seems only likely to eliminate remote playoff chances but not the long-term positive trend for the fanchise. It's one decidedly favoring Eberflus and staff at the moment.

When confidence is up like it is, even the chances of going through without a loss can't be discounted.

"You can just feel confidence," Eberflus said. "The guys have always been confident in their approach and confident in their abilities. But you can see the feeling of confidence when you actually see it, the progress.

"When you see the result. You can certainly feel that with the players and the staff. The guys are upbeat and they’ve always been that way. But you can certainly feel the confidence growing as we start stacking these wins."

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