Back-to-Back Nightmare Tasks Ahead for Bears

Justin Fields and the offense go up against the Eagles and Bills defenses in successive weeks after showing some improvement.
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Justin Fields has faced a few good defenses over the course of the season.

It's about to get much tougher.

In successive weeks, Fields will get to go against the league's second-best defense in yards allowed and the second-best scoring defense. With Philadelphia (12-1) coming to Soldier Field Sunday and Buffalo (10-3) on Christmas Eve, the Bears not only will need to protect their passer but he'll need to show he can produce at a higher level.

It's a season-ending test coming out of a bye for a team that has nowhere to go but up next year, but has an offense with great potential. The self-scout the Bears did over the bye will need to be as effective or moreso than the one they had after their mini-bye in October, the weekend prior to their last victory.

"I do think we figured a couple of things out, just more about situations, how we can improve, how we can enhance our players to do what they do well," Eberflus said. "So I'm excited about looking at that."

They needed some real brain-storming sessions to come up with a way to compete with Philadelphia. The goal has been to get Fields time to throw and they did in the last game for a season-high 254 yards, so they'll look for a repeat or improvement on Fields' passing.

"Yeah, just much of the same as we said," Eberflus said. "Just the rhythm and timing of it, like he did last week. Just the consistency of that now.

"He's really getting a good grasp of the offense and we're excited where he is. Obviously he can make dynamic plays but we want to see also the ordinary plays, the checkdowns, the easy passes, take what the defense gives you, all those types of things that he thinks he needs to improve on and we do, too. He's gonna work at that."Fields produces big plays. He's had 11 runs or pass completions of 39 yards or longer. What he hasn't done enough of is the small gains.

They will have to pass Sunday because good defenses can stop running attacks. The Bears faced San Francisco in the opener and the top-ranked Chicago running game had just 99 yards rushing in the rain—the 49ers are No. 1 on defense and against the run. The Vikings had one of the league's highest-ranked defenses when the Bears played them and Chicago had 78 yards rushing.

Trying to run on Jason Hargrave, Ndamukong Suh and Fletcher Cox probably won't be as difficult, though, as trying to pass on the Eagles.

They are the last-ranked passing team and they're facing an Eagles team No. 1 against the pass, even without the pass rushing of injured former Bears defensive end Robert Quinn (knee).

"So we've really focused on the areas we have to clean up," center Sam Mustipher said. "One of those areas being pass protection and being more efficient in our passing game.

"If we just sit here and hang our hat on what we do as a strength, we'll all be out of a job. So it's really been the focus on what we need to improve and how we can improve it."

They have trended in that direction, dropping to fifth in sacks allowed (42) by giving up none against Green Bay, after they were giving up the most much of the season.

They'll have to go another week without running back Khalil Herbert back because he has a week left on his injured reserve stint due to a hip injury.

The offense has been so focused on improving the passing and pass blocking that they aren't even talking about the possibility of becoming a 3,000-yard rushing team. They're 541 yards short with four games left. Only four teams in history have attained that level, two of them Ravens teams with Lamar Jackson. The 1978 New England Patriots and O.J. Simpson's 1973 Buffalo Bills were the others.

"No, it hasn’t come up," Mustipher said. "Obviously first and foremost what you want to do is win football games and we haven’t done that." 

Overall, the last four games figure to be a true test of what the offense has done to improve.

"We look at it as an opportunity and a great challenge to be able to see our guys match up individually and also as units, to be able to match up against these guys," Eberflus said. "We're going to play two of the best defenses in the league over the next couple of weeks and obviously two of the best offenses.

"Both (have) really good quarterbacks. Both are really solid and really good on special teams. So it's going to be a big challenge for our football team."

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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.