Bears' defense losing its bite at the wrong time
With the Vikings facing a third-and-10 at their 21-yard line with 6:23 left in overtime, Bears coach Matt Eberflus called a timeout to make sure his defense was in the best position for a stop that would then give his offense perhaps one last chance to win.
It didn’t work out that way. With safety Kevin Byard playing six yards beyond the first-down marker, Vikings receiver Jordan Addison, lined up on the right side, ran just past the marker and cut toward the sideline for a 13-yard catch from quarterback Sam Darnold for a first down that kept the drive alive.
“We called a defense that we like on that particular situation,” Eberflus said. “We’ve just got to get down a little bit tighter on that in terms of where our alignments are. We’ve gotta affect them more with the rush on that one, too. It’s about being in position, making good plays. It was one of our main calls that we always call.”
That’s pretty much how it has been going for the defense lately. Even in an advantageous down-and-distance situation, with a call they like, the Bears fail to get the stop.
The Vikings, in fact, faced second-and-17, first-and-15 and second-and-11 situations on their overtime drive and converted each time en route to Parker Romo’s 29-yard field goal that gave them a 30-27 victory Sunday at Soldier Field.
The Bears’ defense allowed 452 total yards and a season-high 30 points against a Vikings offense that, while ranked 10th in points and 13th in yards, was averaging 19.8 points in its previous five games.
With the Bears’ offense building momentum under new coordinator Thomas Brown, the defense is headed in the opposite direction. Through the first six games of the season, the Bears were fifth in the NFL in points allowed (20.2 average), seventh in yards allowed (292.0 average) and 10th in rushing defense (112.0 average). But in the current five-game losing streak, the defense ranks 18th in points allowed (23.2), 31st in yards (395.4) and 27th in rushing yards allowed (151.0).
While the issues on offense that led to the firing of coordinator Shane Waldron after the 19-3 loss to the Patriots on Nov. 10 have been at the forefront of the Bears’ disappointing season, Eberflus’ own defense has become a culprit, even in games in which it has played well enough to win.
The Commanders’ Hail Mary touchdown was not only a fluke, but also a failure of cornerback Tyrique Stevenson to defend receiver Noah Brown instead of jumping into the scrum and tipping the ball inadvertently to Brown. The Bears allowed a 53-yard touchdown run with four seconds left in the first half against the Cardinals — a deflating play neither side of the ball recovered from.
The Packers used a 60-yard pass play from Jordan Love to Christian Watson — after cornerback Jaylon Johnson tripped and fell down — to drive for the winning touchdown in Week 11. On Sunday, the Vikings had plays of 69, 45 and 41 yards.
At this time last year, the Bears’ defense was improving. The Bears led the NFL in points allowed over their last eight games in 2023 (17.1 average) after ranking 31st through nine games (26.8 average). This year it’s headed the other way.
What’s the difference? Eberflus didn’t really have an answer.
“There’s not a magic pill there. There never is,” Eberflus said. “It’s just about tightening things up and doing it better, as a group — coaches, players, all of us together. And if we do that, we’ll be OK.”