Bear Digest

Bears Make Effort to Shuffle Hail Mary Dissent Aside

Players openly questioned coach Matt Eberflus' decisions and essentially each other but now they're trying to forget it and get in line to pull together against the Cardinals.

Gene Chamberlain

Jaylon Johnson tried to corral Terry McLaurin in Sunday's 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders.
Jaylon Johnson tried to corral Terry McLaurin in Sunday's 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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Either the Bears really have had trouble putting the incident regarding Tyrique Stevenson on the Hail Mary pass and other issues from the loss to the Washington Commanders behind or they're just really bad at talking about it.

On one hand, when they had only a walk-through on Wednesday they all talked about moving forward to face the Arizona Cardinals Sunday and unity. On the other hand, they seemed to stand behind comments critical of coaching decisions made in the fourth quarter or at the end of their 18-15 loss on the Hail Mary pass.

What is clear is the fallout from the defeat still exists and this can't be good. It definitely makes this game a real test of the team's culture.

"Because now you really get to see if we can bounce back and really stay together," wide receiver DJ Moore said. "That's the biggest thing."

It didn't seem like things were together much on Wednesday.

After it was revealed that Stevenson had not been focused on his role at the start of the Hail Mary and tipped the pass to Noah Brown instead of covering Brown, meetings of captains and the leadership council ensued and a few players also had critical comments on WSCR and elsewhere about decisions Eberflus made at the end of the 18-15 loss.

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Jaylon Johnson thought they could have used a timeout to get organized better for the Hail Mary while Moore ridiculed the use of backup center Doug Kramer to carry the ball on a goal-line play, resulting in a lost fumble.

At the obvious risk of seeming defiant, both essentially held their ground on their comments when they talked Wednesday at Halas Hall.

"I mean we all talked about it," Moore said. "Me and Flus talked about it with the captains. And it's just got to stay in house next time.

"I mean, I'm not going to say 'sorry for what I said,' but at the same time it is, it should have just stayed in house. But I said what I said."

Eberflus won't divulge whether Stevenson is losing his starting job or any playing time as a result of his gaffes.

"Like I said, I'm not going to talk about Tyrique in terms of starting, not starting, all those things, but I will say this: Tyrique has made a lot of plays for this group and for our defense and for our football team over the last couple of years, and heโ€™s going to continue to do that," Eberflus said. "We're behind Tyrique, and we're with him all the way, and again, we'll work through this as we go."

The comments on radio shows questioning coaching seem to run contrary to the team's singular purpose. However, they have the leadership council and captains to express player feelings to Eberflus behind the scenes.

Johnson still thinks the timeout would have been the way to go prior to the Hail Mary.

"Yeah, I mean just really settle the moment down. My biggest thing was, I'm sure if we're in the finals, we got one more shot or one more possession you are going to call in a sense a timeout to make sure the play is drawn up correctly.

" 'We want to set this pick this way. I mean get your guys in the best position to succeed. I mean at the end of the day that doesn't necessarily change the result, but it changes I would say your mentality going into that play, so I mean no different for us, going in, getting a timeout, settling us down and making sure we're get reminded that what we're doing."

Johnson said he doesn't have a loss of confidence in his head coach as a result of the decisions.

Asked if he still supports Eberflus, Johnson said: "Yeah, he is our head coach."

This hardly seemed a rousing vote of confidence and it brought Johnson back to last year when he was asked if he was behind former Bears QB Justin Fields.

"How do we stay believing in him? I mean I feel like that is, quite honestly, part of the job," Johnson said. "You would think, I mean (expletive), as long as somebody is your head coach I mean the same thing, in a sense with the quarterback situation when everybody asked, 'Are you behind Justin?

"He is our quarterback. He is who we are going with. But I mean whoever is in that position, whoever is in our locker room, whoever is our coaches are, that is who we believe in. That's who we trust to lead us to a championship."

Another instance of a player questioning what's going on at Halas Hall was Cole Kmet saying to media Monday that some players were cheating themselves by the way they were working practice.

"I talked to Cole with that but it's really about wiring in on every single play, and that's really what it is every single week," Eberflus said. "Again, you'll have to ask him exactly what he was referring to.

"I don't know exactly what it was but we had a general conversation about (it). It's about wiring in, cycle of the snap, doing our job and being where youโ€™re supposed to be when you're supposed to be there."

Stevenson wasn't where he was supposed to be but Kmet had said he didn't necessarily mean Stevenson and that play.

Either way, Eberflus' idea is to suppress talking about what the penalty Stevenson faces, whether there even is one.

"Like I said, I'm not going to talk about Tyrique in terms of starting, not starting, all those things," Eberflus said. "But I will say this. Tyrique has made a lot of plays for this group and for our defense and for our football team over the last couple of years, and he's going to continue to do that.

"We're behind Tyrique, and we're with him all the way, and again, we'll work through this as we go."

It doesn't sound like the tough HITS principle they talked so much about when Eberflus became coach, if Stevenson goes unpunished.

Eberflus doesn't care what it sounds like. He wants information about penalties or fines staying "in-house."

He's also not worried he has lost the respect of his players in any way for the decisions or how this has been handled.

"I'm going to be the man that I've been and the leader I've been and just be steady all the way through the process," Eberflus said. "We're a team that's growing, and we're a team that's getting better, and we'll work through this adversity."

Moore summed up the company line in a way that made it seem they all had put it in the past, even if they're all still talking about it well beyond the end of the universal "24-hour rule."

"It's just going on to the next one," Moore said. "We're not below .500. The sky isnโ€™t falling, so, on to the next opponent, that's the Cardinals and weโ€™ve just got to find a way to be 1-0 next week."

They would be 5-3 for the season then, and some of the heat might be off the coaching staff at that point but the loss was definitely a missed opportunity to be even better.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.