KC Chiefs Reportedly Facing ‘Invigorated’ Chicago Bears HC Matt Eberflus in Week 3

The Kansas City Chiefs' third game of the 2023 campaign comes against a Chicago Bears club that has lost 12 straight games dating back to the 2022 season. Currently 0-2 this year, the Matt Eberflus-led Bears are looking to come into Kansas City and steal a win.

The home team is favored by double-digits in this contest, which is a testament not only to the talent disparity between both sides but also to the amount of drama Chicago went through in the week leading up to this contest.

On Wednesday, defensive coordinator Alan Williams announced that he was resigning from the team, effective immediately, to "take care of my health and my family." This came after he wasn't present for the Bears' Week 2 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, generating some uncertainty surrounding his status with the franchise to begin with. With Williams's resignation coming on such short notice, Chicago has yet to name a formal replacement for him.

The acting defensive coordinator against the Chiefs, in a way, will be Eberflus. The 53-year-old has plenty of experience as a defensive coach and play-caller, and he'll handle those duties in Kansas City in Week 3. According to a Sunday morning report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Eberflus is "invigorated" now that he gets some control and freedom back on defense:

"Oh, I'm very excited," said Eberflus, who eventually might name a defensive coordinator but hasn't yet. "I love that part of the game. It was good that first year to be just the head coach and do all the game management stuff. But now that I've had the job for a year and two games, it gave me a good foundation to do both."

Speaking of freedom, third-year quarterback Justin Fields talked about a relative lack of just that earlier this week. After the 24-year-old floated that coaching could have had something to do with him playing too "robotic" and not playing like himself, an abbreviated clip of his statement was posted online and it subsequently went viral. The reaction to it was largely negative, as many interpreted the words as a shot at Chicago's coaching staff. Fields later nipped those inferences in the bud.

The former No. 11 overall pick from the 2021 NFL Draft is attempting to shed some of those robotic tendencies this weekend after smoothing things over and clarifying his stance with his coaches. According to Rapoport, Chicago wants its face of the franchise to be free against the Chiefs:

Time will tell if Fields will right things on the field. The message for this week's game has been to play freer, to more successfully blend what he can do with his legs and hit the open guys with his arm. It is a balance plenty of young quarterbacks attempt to find: how much to run and how much to just let it fly.

And if Fields can successfully do that, much of the recent controversy should go away.

Read More: Chiefs’ Defense Has Been Critical to Early-Season Success