Matt Eberflus sent the Bears home for the summer Thursday a different head coach than he was at this time a year ago — a better one, he hopes. The reason for optimism, the Bears coach said, is that he’s not in his first season anymore.
“When I became the defensive coordinator at Missouri and I was 29 years old, the second year was better than the first year — and it kept getting better and we kept adding talent,” he said. “And the same thing when I became the coordinator at the Colts. Same thing.
“You get more comfortable in the position. You know how to flex a little bit better. You’re more comfortable with the coaches. The coaches are more comfortable with the players. It’s just the second time through it.”
To continue the college motif: the Bears part about sophomores is that they’re no longer freshmen.
“There’s no teacher like experience,” Eberflus said. “There just isn’t. ... You want to swing the golf club, you can talk about it until you’re blue in the face. Until you actually take a lesson and learn how to grip the club, take a stance and swing at it, there’s nothing like experience — in anything you do.”
That’s true of quarterback Justin Fields, too. He’s entering his third NFL season but seems to have finally found the consistent surrounding that he craves. Since graduating from high school, Fields has had the same head coach and offensive coordinator in consecutive seasons just twice — from 2019-20 at Ohio State and 2022-23 with the Bears.
To expect Fields and Eberflus to grow only because of experience, though, is far too passive of an exercise. The Bears can’t hope for improvement merely because of natural growth that occurs between Years 1 and 2. Simply defeating inertia is no grounds for celebration.
Rather, the Bears need to make sure that both men — Eberflus and Fields — are actively improving.
For Fields, that means continuing to improve a passing attack that was still inconsistent on the backfields of Halas Hall this spring. For Eberflus, that means rallying an improved roster from the NFL’s basement.
General manager Ryan Poles spent the offseason putting both in a better position than they were in 2022 — though the head coach would certainly prefer having at least one established edge rusher on his roster. Fields has new targets at receiver and tight end, two new running backs who figure to get regular carries and new faces — or old faces in new places — at four of five offensive line positions.
Comfort in Year 2 is important, but so is a talent infusion.
“We’ve got a lot of new guys that are new to the system,” Eberflus said. “The rookies are new to the system. All the guys that we acquired during the offseason are new to the system. We still have a lot of work to do.”
In Eberflus’ first season at Missouri, the Tigers gave up 30 points per game. In Year 2: 29.3. It wasn’t until Year 3 that they jumped all the way down to 22.1.
When the coach the Tigers he was better in Year 2 than Year 1, he was correct — but on a technicality. The real growth came the year after that.
For Eberflus, the best part about 2023 is that it’s no longer 2022. But the Bears need to get keep growing to get him another season down the line.
