Matt Eberflus’ excuses for the Bears blown Hail Mary protection are so dumb they defy perception

The Chicago Bears had been two performs away from taking a significant step ahead amid their rebuild. As a substitute they’re the laughing inventory of the NFL on Monday. At this level their busted protection on the sport’s ultimate Hail Mary has been seen 1000’s of instances, and from each angle — however simply as essential was the prior play, during which the Bears sat in passive, forestall protection, fairly content material giving up 13 yards to place Jayden Daniels in vary for a last-second heave.

We’re left with two plain truths: The Bears’ protection on these two performs was laughable, and the one factor funnier was how head coach Matt Eberflus tried to justify the choices.

Let’s set the stage right here on that ultimate drive. The rating is 15-12 in favor of the Bears, it’s the fourth quarter and there are 19 seconds left on the clock ranging from the Washington 24 yard line. The Commanders have one timeout left.

At this level there are two defensive issues should you’re Chicago: Firstly, you don’t need any busted protection that would result in a landing, with a secondary purpose of stopping the Commanders from gaining 35 yards, which might put they contained in the efficient vary of kicker Austin Siebert, which might tie the sport.

First down: Daniels takes a shot downfield to Zach Ertz, attempting to choose up a bunch instantly. It’s incomplete. There at the moment are 12 seconds left on the clock.

Second down: Daniels passes brief to Ertz, this time gaining 11 yards and the Commanders name a outing with six seconds left.

So, with Washington now at their very own 35 and having burnt most of their clock the Bears are in an amazing place. The sphere purpose is successfully off the desk, and the complete stadium is aware of that the Commanders’ solely hope is to realize a handful of yards, transfer into Hail Mary vary, and hope to huck it to win.

Effectively, everybody within the stadium thought this may occur — apart from Matt Eberflus.

NO, YOU’RE NOT DEFENDING TOUCHDOWN! THIS MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!

The Bears got here out in a full forestall, giving Commanders’ receivers a strong 15 yards of cushion and with none means of creating a play. From their very own 35 there’s completely zero probability that Daniels can throw a Hail Mary, as a result of whereas he has a superb arm, to achieve the tip zone from the 35 would require a move touring roughly 72 or 73 yards via the air — which frankly virtually no person within the NFL can do with accuracy.

That’s earlier than we focus on how getting a scrum all the way down to the purpose line takes time, and having the receivers run 65 yards at a dash, then assemble for a tip drill simply doesn’t mesh with how a lot time Daniels would want within the pocket earlier than throwing the ball.

For those who’re nervous about receiver YAC they positive, play in a zone — however there’s no motive to run deep move forestall when it’s clear the proper offensive name is to get a fast out and have time for one final play.

What the Bears did allowed Terry McLaurin to realize 13 yards, placing the Commanders on the 48 yard line now and decreasing all the maths on that play right into a manageable state of affairs. The quarterback now solely must via about 60 yards via the air to get to the tip zone, time is shaved off how lengthy it might take to get receivers in place. Every thing is improved drastically.

Someway, even after shedding, Eberflus didn’t assume it was an enormous deal. In the meantime Washington knew it was secretly a very powerful play of the sport.

What makes this so infuriating is that you’ve two defensive head coaches in Eberflus and Dan Quinn, however Quinn understands offense higher than Flus understands protection. It is a highschool degree mistake of drive prognosis, and Eberflus is doing this within the NFL.

Actually all of the Bears needed to do was defend the boundary … that’s it. If it’s an incomplete move then Chicago must resort to some ludicrous hook-and-ladder sort stuff to try to win, which they most definitely received’t. For those who cease a receiver in bounds the sport is over as a result of the clock runs out.

The play earlier than the Hail Mary is the ballgame. Positive, it may not end in a landing, however by enjoying forestall you enhance the probabilities for Washington to win by such an order of magnitude that it’s past comical to say the play didn’t matter.

As for questions in regards to the loss as an entire, Eberflus would fairly not discuss that.

Yeah, I imply if I screwed up so badly my group misplaced I’d in all probability wish to deflect and deal with the positives too.

The primary difficulty right here is that we’re thus far previous the part of “give yourselves a pat on the again” in terms of Eberflus. Positive, you wish to construct Caleb Williams’ confidence, however sorry typically it’s worthwhile to tear your group a brand new one. Tyrique Stevenson must be working 100 laps in observe for jawing with opposing followers, fairly than dealing with the road of scrimmage and enjoying protection. Offensively there must be critical talks happening on why Caleb Williams’ accuracy plummeted to 41.7 p.c and why his yards-per-attempt was 5.5 towards a group ranked twenty second in opposing YPA.

Matt Eberflus is now 14-27 since changing into head coach of this group in 2022. We’re two-and-a-half years into this experiment, and it’s nonetheless not coming collectively. The person is out right here speaking about staying optimistic and performs not mattering as if followers haven’t been pressured to endure two atrocious seasons, with 2024 lastly being an opportunity to take a step ahead — and being handled to changing into a laughing inventory as a result of you possibly can’t handle to defend the move accurately for 2 performs.

This all falls on Eberflus. All of it. I don’t care that he wasn’t on the sector for the game-defining Hail Mary, he allowed this to occur via his teaching, his lack of knowledge, and being oblivious to the state of affairs.

Get that man the hell out of Chicago.