Bear Necessities: Matt Eberflus will evaluate entire team during mini-bye
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Following a brutal 12-7 loss on Thursday night, the Chicago Bears have a mini-bye week to rest up and get back to work ahead of next Monday night’s matchup against the New England Patriots.
Head coach Matt Eberflus will have 11 days to evaluate where his 2-4 team is at through six games, where he teased potential changes with the starting lineup.
“We’re spending time during this mini-bye to evaluate each guy first,” Eberflus said, via ChicagoBears.com. “We come up with three things they’re doing well right now and three things they need to improve on, and the plan for each guy fundamentally to improve on that. That’s a very important piece for us to grow as a football team.
“So we’re gonna do that coming up this weekend and then look at scheme, look at offensive scheme, defensive scheme and special teams. The exact same thing, things we’re doing well, things we need to improve on and how we’re gonna go about that, that’s an important thing. And then we’re gonna look at the lineups, where people are, are we putting guys in a position to succeed, is there anything that can create competition at any position on the football team? That’s healthy for us, to be able to do that going forward. That’s gonna be a big part of that as well. We are improving. We’re looking to improve. We’re gonna have a plan to improve, and we’re gonna get better throughout the course of the season.”
One change that could be on the way is rookie Velus Jones Jr. being removed from kick return duties. Eberflus teased as much after Jones muffed his second punt in three games, which cost the Bears a chance at victory.
The offensive line will also no doubt be a heavy point of emphasis during the mini-bye considering the immense pressure quarterback Justin Fields was under in their Week 6 loss to the Washington Commanders. The offensive line has been a liability all season, and they’re already down top lineman Cody Whitehair, who’s on injured reserve through at least Week 9.
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