A gallant comeback, yes, but another loss that's a poor reflection on Bears coach Matt Eberflus

You can celebrate a valiant but ultimately failed comeback effort by the Bears in a 30-27 overtime loss to the Vikings on Sunday.

Or you can face facts.

If I were you, I’d go with Option 2. The facts are that the Bears’ lack of discipline and lack of brainpower cost them another game. Let me count the misplays:

• A blocked Cairo Santos field-goal attempt in the second quarter, giving him and his team the distinction of having kicks blocked in consecutive weeks.

• A ball of confusion on a fourth-and-4 early in the third quarter. Coach Matt Eberflus initially sent out his kick team, then kept the offense in, resulting in a rushed play and a failed conversion.

• A third-quarter punt that bounced off returner DeAndre Carter, who shouldn’t have been anywhere near the ball. The Vikings recovered at the Bears’ 15 and eventually scored.

• An ill-fated decision by Eberflus. After Bears receiver DJ Moore had scored a touchdown with 7:22 left in the game, the coach decided to go for two. It failed. Even though it was the right call according to analytics, whoever they are, it was the wrong decision in a game that ended up going to overtime.

• A fourth-quarter failure to stop the Vikings on a third-and-13, with a backup quarterback taking his first snap of the game. Feel free to tack on a failure to stop the Vikings on another third-and-12 in the fourth and a third-and-10 in overtime.

• A 12-yard sack taken by Bears quarterback Caleb Williams in overtime, which occurred because he held onto the ball too long. That was followed by a delay-of-game penalty.

Bad things, man. If I have to relive them, so do you.

“I don’t think we expect things like that to happen,’’ Eberflus said. “I just believe we have to execute better down the stretch. We’ve got to coach better down the stretch. It’s an everybody thing.’’

If he means it’s a Bears thing, decades of it, then he’s right.

If he means it’s a McCaskey thing, the result of an ownership group that doesn’t know how to pick head coaches, then he’s right.

But much of what’s going on this season is an Eberflus thing.

An undisciplined team is a reflection of an undisciplined coach. That’s no secret to anyone who has been watching the Bears this season. The latest stop in the Eberflus Farewell Tour saw the befuddled coach throwing more stink bombs at a suspecting Soldier Field audience. But just because Bears fans are used to a sloppy team making mistake after mistake doesn’t make it any more OK.

Eberflus lost a challenge in the third quarter Sunday. He was correct in arguing that Vikings receiver Jordan Addison had stepped out of bounds during a 69-yard reception. But, given that these are the Bears, the one camera angle that proved Eberflus right can’t be used during coaches’ challenges this season.

“We’re losing in the most unreal situations,’’ Moore said. “Now it’s like the luck’s got to go in our favor at some point.’’

If only this were about luck.

All that mess spoiled an excellent game by Williams, who, with strong efforts two weeks in a row, put to rest any talk that he's only successful against poor competition. He was incredible at times Sunday. He had two passes in the first quarter that Bears fans have seen only in their dreams. One was a bullet to Keenan Allen for 40 yards. The other was a perfectly placed pass to D’Andre Swift as he rolled right under pressure. That was good for 30 yards.

Williams finished 32 of 47 for 340 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 103.1.

Even when things went right for the Bears, they subsequently went wrong. After roaring back from a two-touchdown deficit, they recovered an onsides kick with 21 seconds left in the game and the Vikings up 27-24. Santos nailed a 48-yard field goal with no time left. Overtime. For a moment, it looked as if Santos might make people forget the 48-yarder that was blocked earlier in the game and the 46-yarder that was blocked last week with no time left, giving the Packers a victory.

Alas, no. The Bears stumbled in overtime. The Vikings didn't.

It’s no coincidence this season started falling apart in Week 8 with Tyrique Stevenson’s boneheaded taunting of Commanders fans while Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary pass was in the air. He should have been pass defending. He arrived on the scene of his crime late, allowing Noah Brown to catch the ball in the end zone, giving Washington a stunning victory.

That was the first of five straight losses for the Bears, and it was the beginning of the end for Eberflus. Stevenson’s foolishness was a reflection of a shortage of self-control that’s going to be the downfall of the coach.

So the story Sunday, for all the good the Bears did, was dumb mistakes, none bigger than Carter’s muffed punt.

“I just didn’t get out of the way of the ball,’’ he said.

There’s no time to cry, Eberflus insisted afterward.

“Ninety-six hours until we play our next game,’’ he said.

Plenty of time to not prepare for something that might cost the Bears another game.