[ad_1]
Before the Bears beat Minnesota 12-10 on Monday night, general manager Ryan Poles went on WMVP AM-1000 and delivered two messages that seem to indicate coach Matt Eberflus and his staff are on living on borrowed time.
• Poles said the Bears have the talent to compete and win. In addition to beating Washington, Las Vegas and Carolina, the Bears were in position to defeat Denver in Week 4, New Orleans in Week 9 and Detroit in Week 11.
Yet they blew a 21-point lead to the Broncos, faltered in the fourth quarter against the Saints, and completely collapsed in the final four minutes against the Lions.
“You have to have a finishing mentality across the board — for our entire staff and our entire team,” Poles said. “So we have to take accountability for that and learn from it and finish strong.”
• Poles also expects the best players to be on the field at critical times. This was not the case against the Lions as linebacker Tremaine Edmunds did not play at all during Detroit’s final 11-play drive, and new edge rusher Montez Sweat was on the sideline for three of those plays. Sweat was only in on 63% of the snaps overall.
“It takes a little more time to get in the rhythm and have the entire playbook down that most people got all off-season,” Poles said, referring to Sweat. “So you do look for that play time to continue to increase.
“My big thing is just in critical moments having players on the field that can impact the game. So we’ve had conversations about that.”
Those conversations with Eberflus figure to end a day after the season finale at Green Bay.
But who knows? Perhaps a miraculous finish buys this staff one more season.
It’s certainly not impossible, as the Bears’ schedule includes teams that are either hurting (Cleveland), mediocre (Atlanta) or downright bad (the Cardinals and Packers).
The Bears’ offense got off to a terrific start against Minnesota, with Justin Fields going 13 for 14 for 101 yards on the first two drives. The story, however, was the ever-improving defense.
Jaylon Johnson, Jaquan Brisker, T.J. Edwards and Kyler Gordon snared interceptions, Sweat had 1½ sacks, and the front four completely neutralized the Vikings’ running attack.
Minnesota went 2-for-11 on third and fourth downs and managed a measly 242 yards of total offense. If the Bears’ defense keeps this up, watch out. They’re that much closer to becoming a more dangerous all-around team.
Fields struggled after that strong start — losing 2 fumbles in the fourth quarter — but he stepped up when it counted, directing a 66-yard drive that ended in a game-winning Cairo Santos field goal. The big play was a 36-yard strike to D.J. Moore on third-and-10 with under a minute remaining.
“It got a little bit rocky on those two fumbles,” said Fields, who was 27 of 37 for 219 yards and added 59 yards on 12 carries. “So I had to bounce back. Appreciate coaches, teammates pushing me.”
Now what Fields needs is to finish strong. He’s showing flashes of late, and it looks like he could be a solid NFL quarterback.
What he needs is more dangerous receiving weapons and a competent staff to guide his development.
Poles seems to understand that. Now it’s up to him to make it happen.
[ad_2]
