Eagles Show Bears What It Takes

Facing Philadelphia Sunday gives the Bears an up-close look at how fast everything can turn if a rebuild is done correctly.

It's going to take a ton of work but the Bears like to think the Philadelphia Eagles team they face Sunday is what they can be with some  more building.

Coach Matt Eberflus sees his team at 3-10 and imagines what's possible after seeing how the Eagles, coached by Nick Sirianni, went 3-6 to start last season and have since won 18 of their last 21 regular-season games. Sirianni was offensive coordinator for three years in Indianapolis while Eberflus was defensive coordinator.

"I think it's important to look back at history, not only recent history but history a ways back," coach Matt Eberflus said. 'You could look at a lot of different teams that have struggled and then had success.

"The Dallas Cowboys when they were 1-15 (1989). The Oakland Raiders way back. You could look and see all the teams that have been able to flip the script and do that. Philadelphia has certainly done that. So going from that season they had then to Nick's first year, then Nick's second year, so yeah you can always look at that. You always have to go through some adversity."

Bears Have Had Enough Adversity

The Bears certainly have that part of the formula down. 

Both wide receiver and Darnell Mooney and safety Eddie Jackson wer lost for the year due to injuries. They do have safety Jaquan Brisker and cornerback Kyler Gordon back now after almost a month away due to concussions. They made things tough on themselves by trading Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn.

It's going to take more than adding back a few injured players on this roster to build something like Philadelphia, has but the possibility exists.

"You can see how, I mean, not just them but other teams too, you look at Cincinnati and a bunch of other teams," tight end Cole Kmet said. "You can kind of flip it around pretty quickly in this league, I think, depending on what pieces you add and how guys grow in the system and all of that stuff. Yeah, you know, you definitely see that.

"It's encouraging. Yeah, I know a lot of the stuff, there's some similiarities there when you look at it. Yeah, there's definitely things you can look at and be excited about for the future."

The Bears have already seen a turnaround on offense by averaging 25.3 points the last seven games after 15.5 in the first six.

It's the defensive side where Eberflus knows the real building needs to occur.

"Situationally, we know we've fallen short a little bit obviously on third-down defense," he said. "So we want to have to win our one-on-ones, which entails your pass rush, so we have to do a really good job with that, as well. And then our run defense—we've historically been a really good run defense (with the Colts)—top-10 in run defense and sometimes top-5 and sometimes No. 1. So that has to improve.

"So that just comes down to technique, fundamentals—our guys doing their job with intensity. Those things are, everything we're looking at are really those things."

The Bears rank last in sacks with 16 and at stopping third downs and rank 27th against the run. 

"I mean, so what I want to see really is the turnovers," Eberflus said. "We want that to increase, because obviously we're not where we want to be. So what would be a good goal for that? We have set that goal and we want to make sure we're doing a good job of that. We always want to win the ball."

They do rank 17th in takeaways but of their 15 turnovers generated, 13 came when both Quinn and Smith were playing with the team. They have two in the last six games.

What to Do About It All

There are a few things the Bears can do on defense over the last four games to get a better idea of what they'll need to do going forward. They might move players around a bit and try new things.

"A little bit here and there, we'll see where guys are," Eberflus said. "We might put some guys in different positions along the defensive line. I think that's important to do to see what we have and those types of things. But the linebackers are status quo right now and getting our secondary a little healthier will certainly help us."

The example of moves given by Eberflus has been three-technique defensive tackle Justin Jones moving out to end at times. They have moved end Trevis Gipson inside at times, too.

Eberflus looked at the defensive line of the Eagles and former Colts assistant Jonathan Gannon, the Eagles defensive coordinator, and sees what the Bears really lack.

It sounds from the way Eberflus talks about Eagles GM Howie Roseman that the next step for Bears defensive improvement is really going to need to come from Bears GM Ryan Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham, a former Roseman underling.

"Howie (Roseman) has done an awesome job with the roster there and really adding all those defensive linemen," Eberflus said. "A lot of those guys are on one-years (contracts). The backups that used to be starters are really good players."

Edge-rushing linebacker Haason Reddick has 10 sacks, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has eight, defensive end Brandon Graham 8 1/2, defensive end Josh Sweat has 7 1/2 and veteran tackle Fletcher Cox six for the Eagles, who lead the NFL in sacks with 49.

They acquired veterans Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh and have used them mainly as run stoppers and in the rotation.

"Adding Hassan and also Sweat on the outside, those two players are really good pressure players," Eberflus said. "They really create a lot of one-on-one situations. There’s a lot of five-down in nickel also in base.

"They create a lot of one-on-ones inside with Fletcher (Cox) and (Javon) Hargrave and all those guys in there. And then they’re able to put guys in coverage. They are able to play coverage, split safeties single high, they match tight in their coverage more than most that play this system."

And then Eberflus can look at his own defense with 16 sacks, and knows what Poles needs to add most going forward after the season.

"Obviously, you've gotta have schemes that are good, that are simple, that you can repeat and then obviously the addition of players," Eberflus said. "You gotta have good coaching and good players to be able to win at a high rate and they've (the Eagles) certainly done that."

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