The Chicago Bears Continue to Baffle, Befuddle, and Leave Fans Numb

The Chicago Bears have lost five games in a row.

Only one, the loss against the Arizona Cardinals -- a potential playoff team -- can be described as close to anything like "normal."

The Bears lost to Washington Commanders on a Hail Mary, and that came after the Bears followed an atrocious start on offense with a comeback. The Bears lost to the woeful New England Patriots by being flatly outplayed and showing no cohesion on offense. That game was at home, and it was so bad it resulted in offensive coordinator Shane Waldron becoming ex-offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

Then the Bears lost to the hated rival Green Bay Packers when a potential game-winning field-goal was blocked.

Now the Bears have fallen to the division rival Minnesota Vikings after mounting a furious, unlikely comeback to reach overtime, only to meltdown in the extra period.

These Bears have not won a game since they were in London. In October. That's right, their last win came on foreign soil.

This is a team that was supposed to take the leap from rebuilding to playoff contention, or at least "in the hunt", this season.

This author was a bit too busy last week to write about the devastating loss to Green Bay. Had I been free, I'd said it was more of the same -- this team has talent but lacks the ability to close out games. I was thinking that the Minnesota game represented a chance at redemption, but instead the same broken record was on the turntable. Baffling coaching decisions, undisciplined penalties, and stupid special-teams mistakes left the Bears shaking their heads and left fans either angry or numb.

Another blocked field goal cost the Bears. DeAndre Carter was in poor position on a punt return and turned the ball over to the Vikings. Penalties on both sides of the ball hurt the Bears.

And yet, they had a chance. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, freed from the confusion Waldron's leadership, has started to look like the first-round draft pick he is. Not consistently enough, which is to be expected from a rookie, but still he gave the Bears a chance. And a gift from Minnesota allowed Chicago to recover an onside kick and tie the game with a field-goal as time expired in regulation.

It all went to you-know-where in overtime, however. Williams made a rookie mistake and held the ball too long on second down, taking a bad sack that led to third and Lake Michigan. With the Bears facing a down-and-distance so long that there were Culver's at each rest stop, they were unable to convert and punted.

Still, the Vikings had to mount a decent drive to get within field-goal range. And it looked like they might not. The Bears had them in third-and-eight, and Chicago has one of the better defenses in the league. All they had to do was keep the ball from crossing the sticks.

Instead, the Bears got soft in their coverage and allowed Jordan Addison, who'd been open too much all day as Chicago focused on his counterpart, star WR Justin Jefferson, to catch an easy first-down throw.

That soft coverage continued even as the Vikes took a couple of steps back on penalties. It's almost as if Chicago head coach Matt Eberflus was playing to prevent the touchdown, forgetting that Minnesota merely needed field goal.

Or perhaps it was poor execution by the players. Whatever the cause, the vaunted Chicago defense -- which maybe shouldn't be given that honorific -- allowed Minnesota to make the plays necessary to get to the edge of the red zone, from which the Vikings could easily set up the game-winning field goal.

Chicago fans have watched the team lose three home games in a row -- one to an inferior opponent, one to a hated rival, and one to a divisional rival. Next up for the Bears is a road game against one of the league's best teams, on a holiday, on national television.

If the record -- either the win-loss record or the metaphorical broken one on the metaphorical turntable -- doesn't change for the better in southeast Michigan, then the Bears front-office will need to make changes.

This writer has been a bit slow to join the "fire Eberflus" bandwagon, mostly because Flus was supposed to lose in his first season. Four late-game meltdowns in 2023 soured me on Eberflus, but I thought he had a shot at redemption this season with an improved roster and new OC. Eleven games into the season and the OC is gone, the rookie QB regressed before bouncing back, the offense is only now looking competent, and the team's best unit, its defense, has been a letdown.

Eberflus also makes baffling coaching decisions. He allowed the Washington Commanders to get extra yards to make a Hail Mary easier, and then didn't call a timeout to organize his defense before hand. He arguably could've moved the ball closer to the uprights before the blocked field-goal attempt against Green Bay. And he called a poor run defense against Arizona that led to a key touchdown late in the first half.

I often find fans call for the head coach's firing too quickly -- changing coaches isn't a guaranteed fix. But Eberflus is showing that he can't get his team to close.

My expectations for this Bears team was 8-10 wins with maybe a one-and-done playoff appearance. So my frustrations with this team aren't about championship contention -- that didn't seem likely this season. I am concerned, however, that Williams' development won't be as good as it could be. Also, if this team was able to close out games, it would be in playoff contention. Even if you, like me, thought the Bears were a year away, why not go ahead and be competitive sooner than expected?

Instead, the Bears find creative ways to lose. If this isn't fixed by Thursday, send them across the river to Windsor at game's end. After all, they've hired a coach from the CFL before.

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