The Bears’ 20-17 loss to the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday was excruciatingly painful, but it didn’t alter the direction of their rebuild.
Even at 5-9, Matt Eberflus’ team is still on pace to be significantly improved after going 3-14 during the 2022 teardown season, with a defense on the rise with several foundation pieces emerging as playmakers. And even their obvious offensive issues can be addressed prominently in the 2024 draft — whether it’s a quarterback to replace Justin Fields or a wide receiver like Marvin Harrison, Jr. to give Fields a potential difference-making weapon that could take his game to another level.
The biggest danger for Eberflus is a mail-it-in collapse in the final three games against the Cardinals and Falcons at Soldier Field and the Packers at Lambeau Field — an emotional surrender after a difficult season that would reflect on Eberflus’ leadership.
That’s a legitimate concern after the dreadful loss to the Browns on Sunday, when they lost 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter.
A resilient locker room has been one of this team’s strengths, through the 0-4 start and difficult losses to the Broncos (31-30) and Lions (31-26) — games in which they also lost a fourth-quarter lead of 10 points or more.
Those were tough hits to take, but nothing like Sunday, when the disappointment and bewilderment in the locker room was palpable. The Bears were just trying to win games when they slipped against the Broncos and Lions. This time, they had a chance to be actual playoff contenders.
“That’s exactly where the pain was,” safety Eddie Jackson said. “We had our destiny in our hands. We had it. … Just at the end, we couldn’t finish.”
It remains to be seen if the Bears are at an emotional breaking point. From general manager Ryan Poles on down, they take great pride in their resilience. The final three games of the regular season, starting Sunday against the Cardinals at Soldier Field, will be the biggest test yet of their ability to move on.
“It hasn’t [broken us] yet. I’m not concerned about that, necessarily,” said tight end Cole Kmet, who’s been in this situation too many times already. “This is my fourth year in this. It’s tough, man. You come here every day wanting to build a winner out of this. It’s tough to have games like this and games we’ve had prior to this, where we’ve been in reach of winning the game and should win the game and it doesn’t [happen].
“It’s tough. It’s tough coming in this morning. That’s the feeling. But we’ve got resilient guys in this locker room and I think that’s been proven over time.”
Eberflus is relying on the same in-house bond that helped the Bears navigate previous difficult moments, to carry them past Sunday’s loss to a fast finish.
“It’s just relying on the relationships of the men and the guy next to you,” Eberflus said. “We believe in the man next to you — that’s so important to us. The guys are tight. We’re just going to keep pulling together. That’s what we’ve been doing all along.”
Eberflus said he’ll go through his normal weekly process of communicating with leaders and players.
“I’m going to talk to each guy, man-to-man, look them in the eye and see how he’s doing,” Eberflus said.
But … “I might have more lengthy conversations with guys during the week,” he added.
The Bears leaders are confident they won’t let the bottom fall out emotionally.
“I’ve been around a lot of groups, but this group right here is special — the way we work and the way we come together,” said linebacker T.J. Edwards, the leading tackler on the Eagles’ Super Bowl team last year. “We’ve got to keep our heads held high. Our job is to keep this thing together and keep moving forward. We’ve got the guys to do it.”
