After watching tape of Sunday's 21-16 loss to the Colts in Indianapolis, Bears coach Matt Eberflus on Monday discussed five things that stood out to him.

(1) Eberflus was pleased to see improvement on offense and another strong performance on defense.

After being held to a field goal through the first three quarters, the Bears scored two touchdowns in the final 8:21 of the game on Caleb Williams' first two NFL TD passes. The rookie threw for 363 yards, the most by a Bears quarterback since Brian Hoyer's 397 yards in the team's last contest in Indianapolis in 2016.

Three Bears receivers compiled at least 78 yards. Rome Odunze caught six passes for 112 yards and one touchdown. Cole Kmet matched a career-high with 10 receptions for 97 yards and one TD. And DJ Moore had eight catches for 78 yards. The Bears rushed for 63 yards on 28 carries but did not have a run of more than nine yards.

"It was good to see guys make plays on both sides of the ball," Eberflus said. "Really feel that we're taking a step in the right direction in terms of offensively distributing the ball to our skill to the different targets that we saw, and then we were committed to the run game. [But] certainly need to have it be more effective in the early part of the game."

The Bears defense produced two more interceptions by cornerback Jaylon Johnson and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, increasing its total since the start of the 2023 season to 26, most in the NFL. Edmunds' interception came in the end zone after Jack Sanborn deflected an Anthony Richardson pass on third-and-goal from the 3.

"I was proud of the defense and the way that they played in terms of the way they responded to different scenarios they were put in, sudden change and different things that we rose up to," Eberflus said. "The takeaways will continue to be there for us, and that's going to be a part going forward."

(2) During Monday's team meeting, Eberflus focused on turnover ratio, yards per rushing attempt and explosive plays on both sides of the ball.

While the defense intercepted two passes, the offense committed three turnovers on two interceptions and a lost fumble. The Colts converted two takeaways into TDs, including one after they had recovered a Williams fumble at the Bears' 16.

"Just meeting with the team this morning was really about that," Eberflus said. "It was just about getting the ball right, making sure we're squared away there: Offense, protect it; defense, get it. That's line one in football."

Eberflus stressed how the Bears must improve on the ground after averaging 2.3 yards per carry and allowing the Colts to average 4.5 yards per attempt. Indianapolis' Jonathan Taylor rushed for 110 yards on 23 carries, including a 29-yard touchdown.

"Our run averages have to be better on both sides of the ball," Eberflus said. "That was another big message there. And then the explosive plays. The way you stop scoring and the way you get scoring in the NFL is through explosives."

(3) Eberflus reiterated that the communication needs to be better than it was Sunday when the Bears had to call a timeout before trying a two-point conversion.

The timeout was called after Williams threw a 1-yard TD pass to Odunze, cutting the Bears' deficit to 14-9 early in the fourth quarter.

"That was just not good," Eberflus said. "Like I said [Sunday], we need to be better there as coaches, communicating across the board to be able to go for it, that we are going to go for it, going for two because we're down by five. Obviously, that's the No. 1 thing you do. I called a timeout to make sure we got the guys ready and got them alerted and got the best play we had for that particular situation. Again, that's got to be better. We have been great at that. We just have to be better in that moment."

(4) Eberflus was pleased with how running back Roschon Johnson performed.

The second-year pro led the Bears in rushing with 30 yards on eight carries and also caught four passes for 32 yards.

"He did a really good job in terms of denting the pile forward," Eberflus said. "I was real happy for Roschon being able to run the ball effectively and catch the ball out of the backfield in two-minute, on third downs and all that."

(5) Eberflus described Williams' third-quarter interception—which came into double coverage and was intended for Odunze—as "an aggressive throw."

The pass down the left sideline was broken up by safety Nick Cross and picked off by cornerback Jaylon Jones at the Bears' 45. The Colts led 7-3 at the time.

"I think [Odunze] was open, but those windows close in the NFL," Eberflus said. "The safe option would have been taking the back in the flat in that particular case. We went through the motion, and they ended up shifting their coverage over there. On that particular play, [it was an] aggressive throw. He's got to have some wisdom there and discernment in terms of when he needs to make that throw. You never want to take away his aggressiveness, but he has to be really good with the football. That's his No. 1 job as a quarterback."