27 December 2023
The Chicago Bears had a “Victory Monday” on Christmas, free to enjoy the holiday after rolling over the Arizona Cardinals 27-16 on Sunday. The Bears have won four of their last six games and continue to build confidence and momentum down the stretch of the regular season.
Players had both Monday and Tuesday off as the team turns its attention to a Week 17 home game against the Atlanta Falcons. Coach Matt Eberflus addressed reporters Tuesday in Lake Forest. Here are three things we learned from that session and from Sunday’s victory.
1. As the Bears defense continues its resurgence, the list of significant contributors is growing.
Cornerback Kyler Gordon had another active outing Sunday and continues to ascend in his second season. Pass rusher Montez Sweat has been an obvious catalyst of the team’s improvement over the past two months.
Nose tackle Andrew Billings has been a sturdy leader up front, particularly as a tone-setting run stopper. And linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards continue to make an impact in the middle of the defense.
The Bears defense is fast becoming one of the league’s better units, and for obvious reasons, the team would like to keep its core intact beyond this season. Eberflus was asked Tuesday for his impressions of cornerback Jaylon Johnson and safety Eddie Jackson, who face uncertain futures in 2024.
Johnson is in the final year of his rookie contract and soon will resume extension talks with the front office. Jackson, who’s finishing his seventh season with the Bears, could be a cost-cutting casualty this offseason with an $18.14 million salary-cap hit for 2024.
The value of those two players to the secondary and the entire defense isn’t lost on Eberflus.
“Both guys have been great. True pros,” Eberflus said. “They have done everything we have asked them to and have both risen. … Where their future is going to be, we don’t know all that right now. We’d certainly love to have them here.
“They are both so smart when it comes to football. They are high-intelligence guys. And that certainly helps our young players, our first- and second-year players, to be able to develop their understanding of the game.”
2. Defensive tackle Justin Jones continues to produce up front.
Jones raised his season sack total to 4 1/2 when he threw down Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray for a 9-yard loss early in the first quarter. Jones’ initial push against left guard Elijah Wilkinson was stopped in part because of the penetration Billings got against center Hjalte Froholdt.
“When I got off the ball and made my move, all I saw was Big Bill and I was like, ‘Oh, snap!’” Jones said. “So I looped around and saw the hole. At that point, I was like, ‘Whoa!’”
After circling to his left and around Wilkinson and Froholdt, Jones had Murray in trouble.
“When he saw me,” Jones said, “he just dropped. I said, ‘Yeah! I need that. I’ll take that.’ Those are the best ones. You don’t even have to do much. However they come, I need them all.”
Jones had only three sacks in 2022 and one more through the first nine games this year. But he seems to be one of many Bears defenders seeing greater opportunity and increased production since the team traded for Sweat in Week 9.
Jones also is thrilled with the Bears defense’s improvement against the run, climbing from 31st in the league in 2022 to No. 1 this season.
“Huge,” Jones said. “We’ve got the pieces now. I can’t say enough about (Billings). And everything comes from the way you stop the run. When you can take away that, they have to change their whole game plan.”
3. Sunday’s performance was a mixed bag for quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields propelled the Bears to an early lead when he finished a 74-yard touchdown drive with a 3-yard scramble in the first quarter, making an alert decision to tuck and run when the left side opened up.
Fields jump-started that drive with his longest completion of the afternoon, a 53-yard shot to tight end Cole Kmet in single coverage against safety Jalen Thompson. Kmet had size advantages of 7 inches and 72 pounds on Thompson, and Fields recognized an opportunity to give one of his most reliable playmakers a chance in a one-on-one situation.
“You just throw it up there,” Eberflus said. “He trusts Cole to be able to either come down with it or knock it down, and (Kmet) came up with it. It was a great catch.”
Added Fields: “(Thompson) was just panicking there. He wasn’t even looking back at me. I looked up, gave Cole a shot and he came down with it. Cole does a great job with extended plays.”
The Bears’ longest run of a 250-yard rushing day also came from Fields, a 39-yard scramble in the fourth quarter. That was part of a 97-yard rushing contribution from Fields.
Still, the quarterback’s overall performance was a bit bumpy. Against a Cardinals defense that came in allowing a 103.8 passer rating, Fields’ rating was 71.5, the worst posted against Arizona in 15 games. Six quarterbacks have posted a rating above 100 against the Cardinals, with Brock Purdy and Matthew Stafford doing it twice.
The Bears’ 170 passing yards was the third-lowest total the Cardinals have allowed this season.
Fields’ fourth-quarter interception — with the Bears ahead 24-10 and inside the red zone — also was problematic. He put too much air under a pass across the field to running back Khalil Herbert on a corner route.
Herbert had gained separation from linebacker Tyreek Maddox-Williams, and Fields figured Thompson would be flat-footed and out of the play as he covered tight end Robert Tonyan in the flat to the same side. Instead, the Cardinals safety broke as Fields released his throw and intercepted the ball in the end zone.
“I’ve got to see that,” Fields said. “And if I were to do it again or if I had that over, I would just drive that ball to Khalil. Because the defender who had him got caught up a little bit and was trailing behind.”
Situationally, Eberflus acknowledged that was a costly error with Fields miscalculating the risk-reward.
“There’s a balance there for sure,” Eberflus said.
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