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Major Digest Home Column: As offense ascends, Bears defense goes on sneaky decline under Matt Eberflus - Major Digest

Column: As offense ascends, Bears defense goes on sneaky decline under Matt Eberflus

Column: As offense ascends, Bears defense goes on sneaky decline under Matt Eberflus

CHICAGO (WGN) — For weeks, it felt like the offense was holding the Chicago Bears back from adding tallies to the win column. But now, as Caleb Williams and Thomas Brown find their stride in the Bears' offensive system, it's their defense that's dropping the ball when it matters most.

“Yeah, the overtime defense was not good enough," Matt Eberflus said Sunday. "We ended up getting them 3rd-and-10. I got to do a better job making the good calls there and execution, we got to do a better job. But again, that was not what we wanted.“

The specific play Eberflus referenced was a third-and-10 play with 6:23 to go in overtime. It resulted in a 13-yard completion from Sam Darnold to Jordan Addison and came two plays after a Montez Sweat sack on the first play of OT, who only had 3.5 sacks and seven quarterback hits total heading into Sunday.

The failed third down stop was one of many manageable situations where down and distance favored Chicago's defense, but a lack of pressure on Darnold allowed the Vikings to nickel and dime them to death as they drove down the field.

After a false start penalty on the very next play, the Bears had Minnesota at first-and-15, but Darnold had a clean pocket and hit Justin Jefferson for a 20-yard completion.

The play after that, Vikings' offensive lineman Blake Blandel was called for holding, leaving Minnesota at first-and-20.

But have no fear, because Darnold was still here.

The other former USC quarterback on the field Sunday hit Aaron Jones for nine yards, then TJ Hockenson for 12. First down Vikings.

After Terrell Edmunds and Byron Cowart dropped Jones on a two-yard run, Chicago's pass rush was no where to be seen as Darnold found a wide open Hockenson once more, this time along the right sideline.

The former Iowa Hawkeye galloped downfield for a 29-yard gain before Kevin Byard and crew stopped him at the Bears' nine-yard line.

By that point, the game was basically checkmate. A Darnold kneel-down set up John Parker Romo for a chip shot from 29 yards out, and he promptly drove the ball straight down the middle to deliver Chicago a loss on the final play of the game for the third time in their last five contests.

"We have to execute better down the stretch. We got to coach better down the stretch. It's an everybody thing," Eberflus said. "Is it difficult? yeah, it is difficult [when] you lose three games like this."

Five straight losses have led to a slew of continuously recycled euphemisms from Eberflus, who has repeatedly preached he and his subordinates need to "coach better," "communicate better" and emphasize the "little things" as losses continue to pile up, the latest of which an increasing amount of responsibility has fallen on the defense.

The Bears lack of a pass rush is well documented — over the past two seasons heading into 2024, Chicago ranked dead last or second-to-last in team sacks. Heading into their Thanksgiving day matchup with the Detroit Lions, the team is tied for 13th in the NFL in team sacks (28), but that doesn't paint the full picture of their struggles to get to the quarterback.

After registering 18 sacks over their first six games, the Bears have ten over their previous five contests, a full sack drop-off from their 4-2 start.

Aside from a weakening pass rush and Eberflus seemingly coaching scared by leaving his defense in soft zone coverages against the Vikings in overtime, Chicago's run defense has also contributed toward their five-game losing streak.

From Week 8 to Week 12, Bears opponents averaged 30.6 carries for 151 yards — a hair under five yards a carry (4.93) — and scored 1.2 TD runs a game, the lowlight being their matchup at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9, where the Birds gashed Chicago for 213 yards and 3 TD runs on 34 carries (6.3 YPC).

If the Bears defense gave up an average of 151 rush yards over all 11 of their games, it would be the second-worst 11-game sample (1,661 yards) in the National Football League at this point in time, trailing only the Carolina Panthers (1,766).

The sharp decline stands in stark contrast from where Chicago's run defense stood at the end of the 2023 NFL season — the Bears surrendered the NFL's fewest rush yards (1,368) and second-fewest TD runs (8), while holding opponents to 3.8 yards-per-carry, the fifth-best mark in the NFL.

Even with all the problems faced by the defense, I would be remiss if I placed unanimous blame on them for Sunday's loss and Chicago's woes of late.

A blocked Cairo Santos field goal, a muffed punt that ricocheted off the shin of DeAndre Carter, and a poorly executed offensive drive to start overtime played their parts against the Vikings, but if not for Santos, Carter and Caleb Williams fueling 11 furious points in the final 22 seconds of regulation, the Bears would never have made it to OT in the first place.

Carter gave Chicago prime field position on their last touchdown drive of the game thanks to a 55-yard kickoff return, then Williams found Keenan Allen in the back of the end zone with 22 seconds left, hit DJ Moore for the two-point conversion, and Santos executed the NFL's first onside kick of the season before nailing a 48-yard field goal as time expired to tie the game.

"We need to tighten up on the details and do things better," Eberflus said on Monday. "There's not a magic pill there. There never is. It's just about tightening things up and doing it better as a group — coaches, players, all of us together. If we do that, we'll be okay. We've played well at times this year, for sure.

"You can look at the numbers, we've played well on third down, QBR, red zone, we've played really well in a lot of areas. All I'm saying is we need to tighten it up, bring it together, and the only way to do that is coming together."

The Bears are the top-ranked red zone defense in the NFL so far this year, and also rank seventh in opponents' third down conversion percentage, and ninth in opponents average team passer ratting, but if they can't figure out how to get pressure on the quarterback and rediscover how to stop the run, there's no chance Chicago tightens up enough before taking a sixth-straight loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving.

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