After watching tape of Sunday's 29-9 loss to the Cardinals, Bears coach Matt Eberflus spoke to the media about what stood out in the game:
(1) Eberflus was pleased that the Bears won the turnover battle 2-0.
The defense's first takeaway came early in the second quarter when undrafted rookie Reddy Steward punched the ball out of receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.'s hands after a 21-yard reception. Elijah Hicks returned the fumble to the Cardinals' 46, setting up Cairo Santos' second field goal.
The second takeaway came in the fourth quarter when Kevin Byard IIIrecovered a fumble resulting from a botched handoff between quarterback Kyler Murray and running back Emari Demercado.
The Bears have generated multiple takeaways in five of their last six games and are currently fifth in the NFL with a plus-7 turnover ratio.
"We've been doing a good job with the ball," Eberflus said. "We're plus-7 in that category, so that's got to be a positive for us."
(2) The Bears were hurt by a disparity in the running game.
They were outgained on the ground 213-70, including 148-40 in the first half, by the Cardinals, who scored all three of their touchdowns on runs.
"We're working on exactly what we need to improve on and that to me starts with the run game on offense and then defense," Eberflus said. "To me everything falls off of that. We have to do a really good job of establishing that, and that's where you get your play-action passes and that's where you get your play-action screens and putting yourselves in a good position to execute on third down if you get to that. So that's what we're taking a hard look at today, among other things."
After the Bears cut the deficit to 7-6 on Santos' 53-yard field goal in the second quarter, the Cardinals rushed for 63 yards on eight carries to fuel a 12-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by running back Trey Benson's 1-yard TD burst.
The Bears trimmed the lead to 14-9 on Santos' second straight 53-yard field goal with :26 left in the half. But Arizona widened the margin to 21-9 with :04 to go on Demercado's 53-yard TD scamper on a third-and-5 draw play.
The Cardinals continued to run the ball effectively in the third quarter, burning 7:54 off the clock on a methodical 13-play, 69-yard drive that resulted in a field goal.
"Defensively, I don't think we've stopped the run very well, certainly in that third quarter when we needed to. They had that long drive to exhaust a bunch of time off there," Eberflus said. "We need to do a better job there in terms of the overall run defense and limiting those explosives as we go forward. That's where everything starts. That's the foundational piece and we have to do a good job there."
(3) Negative plays on offense, including sacks and costly penalties, stalled drives.
After the defense opened the game with a three-and-out, the offense was moving the ball on its first possession, picking up three first downs and reaching the Cardinals' 37. The drive was highlighted by Caleb Williams completions to Rome Odunze of 17 and 15 yards.
The Bears overcame a pass interference penalty on Keenan Allen but were forced to punt after an illegal formation infraction nullified Williams' 7-yard pass to DJ Moore and Williams was sacked on third-and-3 from the Arizona 42.
"Offensively, just as a whole group, we have to make sure that we don't take negatives to put us behind the sticks," Eberflus said. "That could be by penalty, or it could be by sack, or a TFL (tackle for loss), because the percentage of you scoring there across the league, it diminishes. Those things have to get taken care of first, and that's a whole team thing in terms of the offensive team."
(4) After suffering their second straight defeat following a three-game winning streak, Eberflus said that there's a "heightened sense of urgency" at Halas Hall.
The Bears will try to rebound Sunday against the Patriots at Soldier Field before beginning a rugged six-week stretch in which they play five games against division opponents and one versus the defending NFC champion 49ers in San Francisco.
"Whenever you lose two in a row in the NFL, there's always a heightened sense of urgency because you have to get that win column back," Eberflus said. "That was no different than early in the year when we lost a couple in a row. It's really the same. We have to find answers and find solutions to where we are right now.
"We move in the right direction for three weeks, and then the last couple, we have to make sure we find answers right now moving into this week. We don't have a lot of time. We have less than 48 hours before we practice [Wednesday]. We have to do a good job. Before the players get back in the building, we have to do a good job of finding those answers."
