The more we learn about the final two plays of the Bears and Commanders game on Sunday, the angrier I seem to get. Usually, after a day of separation from the moment, things calm down a bit, we tend to see things a little more rationally, and acceptance starts to set in. That couldn’t be further from the truth in this case.
A day later, the last two plays of the game look even worse for Chicago’s coaching staff. To make matters worse, head coach Matt Eberflus pretty much keeps doubling down on how he handled the situation.
The Bears elected to give an injured quarterback 12 extra yards on a Hail Mary heave, go home with three timeouts in their pocket, and have a linebacker shadow a running back in the backfield on a Hail Mary which was effectively opting to play with 10 defenders and saw no value in stopping the action to regroup or discuss any of it and make sure everyone was on the same page.
One day later, how avoidable this situation was makes this feel that much worse.
Bears Coaching Miscues On Final Two Plays
- Let’s start with the second-to-last play because make no mistake about it, it was as important as the Hail Mary. I don’t care how many times Matt Eberflus wants to tell us the second-to-last play didn’t matter. Dan Quinn quite literally told us that without those yards on the second-to-last play, the last play doesn’t happen:
- Then, in his media availability Monday, CHGO’s Adam Hoge relays more from Eberflus, who said if they defended the sideline on the second-to-last play then Washington would have converted that to a Hail Mary. The ball was snapped from the 35, which means Daniels would have been throwing it from around the 25-27. His throw from the Hail Mary came from around the 35 (the ball was snapped at the 45) and still came up short. Washington had no timeouts. If they want to run a Hail Mary from their own 30 with zero time outs THEN LET THEM – THE BALL WOULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN NEAR THE ENDZONE ANYWAY.
- Have your corners defend the sideline, give them the middle of the field make them throw a pass there, and if it’s completed make a tackle and end the ball game. Even Kevin Byard wasn’t shy about how he would have handled the coverage.
- Let’s stick with the Hail Mary. T.J. Edwards was in a spy, which, according to Flus, was actually him being responsible for the RB. WHY WAS ANYONE RESPONSIBLE FOR A ROUTE OUT OF THE BACKFIELD ON A HAIL MARY? Let a running back run to the middle of the field and catch the ball, who gives a crap! And if the back goes down to the endzone, then there are people there already covering the goal line. Just none of this makes sense.
- For no particular reason at all whatsoever, here’s a clip of the Lions rushing five and sacking Sam Darnold on the Vikings Hail Mary attempt at the end of their game last week.
- The Tyrique Stevenson clip was bad. You cannot do that. It’s immature, it’s dumb, and it’s totally unacceptable. Having said that, there’s no way that play should have been run. Matt Eberflus had all three timeouts in his pocket. Stand immediately next to the referee on your sideline, see how they line up, and take a timeout. Talk it over, calm everyone down, and make sure you have everything in order. But then again, the more prep time for things the more this coaching staff seems to struggle so maybe a timeout would have been detrimental. Matt Eberflus talked on the Kap & Hood Show on ESPN 1000 this morning about this, and some of the answers were rough. Watch the YouTube stream if you can to see Kap’s reactions.
- Speaking of Stevenson, he’s already taken more accountability for what he did than Matt Eberflus has for any of his mistakes from Sunday. I don’t care if he’s just saying that to the media and it’s a different message in the locker room. Players notice if you’re throwing them under the bus in the media. By strictly saying Wee need to execute better” and not acknowledging that you did anything wrong, you’re tossing your players directly under the bus, even if in the locker room you’re owning up to your mistakes (which I have no idea if he is or not). How about putting your team in the best possible position to win? That’s what good coaches do, and this staff has mostly failed to do that against equal or better competition over the last two years.
I’ve been harsh on Matt Eberflus, but the lack of accountability infuriates me. Coaching has been the downfall of the Bears this season. The offensive line has been bad, but the rest of the roster has not been a problem. Coaching cost the Bears against the Colts, and it cost them again against the Commanders. Chicago should be 6-1 right now, but because of a lack of preparation and some inexcusable decisions, they have two losses that should be wins.