Bear Digest

It's Time for Bears to Stop the Talking and Start Playing

Analysis: The Bears are ready for Thomas Brown's debut and have said plenty this week about what was wrong under Matt Eberflus but now it's time to prove what they said.

Gene Chamberlain

Sam LaPorta hangs on in the end zone for the touchdown, beating coverage by Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson in Detroit.
Sam LaPorta hangs on in the end zone for the touchdown, beating coverage by Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson in Detroit. / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
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Bears receiver DJ Moore liked the sound of things.

"You hear it? It's like a brighter day in here," Moore said of the noise in the Bears' locker room. "We've still got time to go put some wins out there and stack 'em. That's what everybody is looking forward to."

The Bears have little more than this to look forward to because they sank too far during the six-game losing streak to end the Matt Eberflus era.

They're trying to start with a new attitude and avoid establishing the team's second-longest losing streak of this decade at seven, as they play the 49ers.

Moore is questionable for the game with a quad injury but seems on a positive track to play after a limited practice Friday. Even while he didn't practice earlier in the week, he noted a change in the team's attitude because of Thomas Brown's coaching energy.

"Yeah, I think it's going to apply," Moore said. "You can see it throughout practice and you can definitely feel it in the locker room. We'll see."

Offensive players had seen Brown's energizing effect for the last three weeks. The defense now is seeing it up close for the first time.

"It was great energy," defensive end Montez Sweat said. "Serious. Leadership. He means business."

The attitude is one thing but as Brown himself pointed out, but it's a player's league and they're going to play a team well put together well by GM John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, even if injuries have hit key 49ers.

They'll need someone at running back to handle the load in a critical area against a team that wants to run the ball itself.

With D'Andre Swift questionable nursing a quad injury and Roschon Johnson out due to a concussion, Brown might be leaning on Travis Homer to carry the ball, because GM Ryan Poles traded away former starter Khalil Herbert just before the deadline.

Homer is a 5-foot-10, 202-pound back who has spent his career as more of a third-down type. In two Bears seasons he has three rushing attempts. He had 83 in 3 1/2 seasons at Seattle and has averaged 5.5 yards, though catching passes and blocking has been his forte.

Confidence in Homer?

"1000 percent," Brown said. "I obviously have a long history with Travis. I recruited Travis at Miami and coached him for three years so definitely he's always been dependable.

"Just kinda been early on before he had a couple injuries himself. Really involved in third down but also in two-minute. Will kinda take a bigger role this week as far as being more involved than the normal (down and distance) process."

A 202-pound back wouldn't be ideal for goal line and short yardage.

"I think Travis is capable of doing everything for us offensively," Brown said. "Anytime you talk about that position, running-back-wise, I'm not really into building a roster of situational guys. That position is so volatile, at some point all of them will go play. Even your third and fourth guys will probably start a few games for you.

"So I have full faith and confidence in that entire room in general."

If it's a handicap, Brown's attitude hasn't reflected it.

The new direction was called for by players who basically erupted after the loss in Detroit when no one called timeout in the closing seconds as they tried to make overtime possible. In particular, it was cornerback Jaylon Johnson during the talking when he confronted Eberflus.

“That wasn’t something that was premeditated or nothing like that,” Johnson said. “It was kind of just something again that came out that of course has been building inside for five years now.

“But at the end of the day, I think it was something my teammates felt and understood and can agree with. But I mean, that’s all that was, honestly.”

So Brown will make his first talk Sunday to the team pregame and has been pondering what he'll say.

"I'm gonna wing it," he joked. "I think, you know, I believe in preparation, for sure. It has been a slow build throughout the week. I do have some talking points, but I don't believe in wasting words. Also, when guys are in the right spot in the moment, less is more. I that, as the week goes on, I talk less and the players talk more."

The Bears have all talked more since Eberflus' firing. They've said a lot about how damaged the team had become and how Eberflus had to go, as well as how energizing Brown’s messages are.

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It's fairly easy to blame someone who's no longer around.

Now it's time for the players to show more with their play than with their words because if they don’t, there’s no one left to blame but themselves.

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.