Matt Eberflus previews Bears-Lions matchup

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Thu Nov 28 09:36:58 GMT-05:00 2024

CHICAGO—Matt Eberflus's tenure as the Chicago Bears head coach has not been filled with many victories. Chicago has gone on losing streaks under him before, and they are currently on another one, having lost the last five straight.

Now, they will face arguably the best team in the league on Thanksgiving (11:30 a.m. / CBS) to get their first win since mid-October.

“It’s going to be a very big task for all 11 of us out there on the field and we got to do a great job with that … We got to do a great job with disguise. We got to do a great job with different looks in terms of pressures and all the things you need to do in situations too. So, the guys have been on point all week,” Eberflus said. “The mindset is to be able to flip this around fast, get your preparation in and really, it’s about the collective spirit of the team. Playing with the passion you need to play with on these games and going in there, Thanksgiving game, a lot of guys for (their first time in a) Thanksgiving game and so, it’s a special event and the guys are excited about the competition.”

Detroit has not lost since the second week of the season. They find ways to win - sometimes in dominant fashion and sometimes in close matchups like their game against the Houston Texans a few weeks back. The offense is at its best when their running backs, former Bear David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, are dominating the game.

Given Chicago’s struggles against the run this season, this could be a problem for the Bears.

“They have an identity and they stay to their concepts and they certainly adjust those as they go in terms of formations, motions and the way it looks,” Eberflus said. “But, their core concepts are the same and they do that repeatedly and (they’re) good at it.”

What is worse than having a poor run defense is having that issue coupled with an inability to get to the quarterback. The Bears pass rush has also struggled throughout the season, especially since defensive lineman Andrew Billings went down for the season. Last week against the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago had three sacks. That was more than their past two games combined.

Eberflus said the pass rush was emphasized throughout this short week of practice in preparation for Detroit.

“We put emphasis on it to the guys. We did the drill work and the guys did a really good job. We talk four equals one in terms of working off each other and that’s how you do it with a four-man rush. A lot of those things are natural, so not even games that you set up,” Eberflus said. “The guys did a really good job with that and they got to continue to do that (because) we rotate a lot of guys in there. So, it’s working with each other, the (man) next to you and of course, we do have stunts and pressures and all those things too. But, (I) thought they did a really nice job of creating that pressure.”

Offensively, Chicago has improved since making Thomas Brown the interim offensive coordinator. One change he has made was to get running back Roschon Johnson more involved.

While this has led to fellow back D’Andre Swift’s numbers dropping, the offense as a whole is functioning better, and Eberflus stated the team is pleased with Johnson and Swift's performance.

“We’re really pleased with both our backs. They both really operated well, not only last two weeks but throughout the course of the year and those guys have done a good job with that. Roschon’s a trustworthy guy. So is Swift. They’re both hard workers,” Eberflus said. “We feel we got to use both guys. They both have good skill sets in terms of a little bit different, but also effective, and we’re pleased with both of them.”