INDIANAPOLIS — Even with three decades of experience before the Bears hired him, Matt Eberflus is still learning on the job as a relatively new head coach. That means his approach to preseason games, practice schedules and other things likely will keep evolving as he establishes himself.
Eberflus tacitly acknowledged that leading up to his team’s 24-17 loss to the Colts in a preseason game Saturday, when he sat almost all of his starters on the grounds that they’d gotten meaningful, game-like work during two joint practices with the Colts. This might not be the plan every year, he said.
He also has made an intriguing shift in how he’s spending his time in practices and meetings this season. Eberflus was preoccupied with the offense last summer as he tried to build a relationship with quarterback Justin Fields and verse himself in coordinator Luke Getsy’s terminology, but now he’s splitting his time evenly with the defense.
As a CEO-style head coach, that’s ideal. And the ability to oversee every aspect of the team in that role is one aspect that makes him different from his predecessor, Matt Nagy. Nagy often seemed a little out of the loop when talking about issues on defense and special teams, not that he ever had much of an explanation for the offense’s maladies, either.
Whereas Nagy was de facto offensive coordinator as head coach, Eberflus gives his coordinators autonomy. He has input and final say, of course, but described it as trying to “be helpful” to Getsy, defensive coordinator Alan Williams and special teams boss Richard Hightower.
Eberflus wouldn’t be able to run the team at large effectively if he was overly involved on defense, which is where he built his career as an assistant.
“Having a 50-50 split is really where I want to be,” Eberflus said ahead of the game. “I want to be the head coach of the entire football team and now that I have a better understanding of [the offense], I’m able to do that.”
There’s no guarantee that will lead to better results than Nagy or any other coach who relies on his specialty on one side of the ball, but it’s a logical way to approach the job.
Incidentally, it makes Eberflus’ defensive expertise more valuable. As much as chairman George McCaskey and general manager Ryan Poles thought Eberflus checked every box, there’s little chance he would’ve been considered for any head-coaching spot if he hadn’t been so brilliant as the Colts’ defensive coordinator from 2018 through ’21.
He was impressive before that, too, as a linebackers coach for the Browns and Cowboys — so much so that the Colts kept him even when the head coach who hired him, Josh McDaniels, bailed. When they pivoted to Frank Reich, general manager Chris Ballard was adamant that Eberflus was the right man to lead his defense.
This was Eberflus’ first game at Lucas Oil Stadium since the Bears hired him over fellow finalists Dan Quinn and Jim Caldwell. When he left, the Colts were the No. 10 defense in the NFL and had three defenders in the Pro Bowl. Over his four seasons, they allowed the 10th-fewest points, forced the second-most turnovers and gave up the third-fewest yards per carry. They held their opponent to 21 or fewer points 31 times in 65 games.
Not bad for a guy who inherited the third-worst defense in the league.
That experience should be useful as he and Williams try to orchestrate a similar turnaround for the Bears, whose stripped-down roster allowed the most points in the NFL last season. It helps that Poles added talent — linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue — instead of subtracting it, but it also helps that Eberflus will contribute more defensively.
“It’s fun to get back into there and it’s fun to grow that relationship with Alan,” he said.
As for the game, Eberflus used it mainly to evaluate his depth behind the starters. With Fields out, backup P.J. Walker started, undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent finished the first half and Nathan Peterman handled the second.
The Bears broke a 7-7 tie with Cairo Santos’ 50-yard field goal late in the third quarter and went ahead 17-7 when Peterman hit wide receiver Daurice Fountain up the right sideline for a 35-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth. Fountain was the Bears’ most productive player with five catches for 85 yards.
The Colts took a late 21-17 lead and pushed it the lead to seven on a field goal after Bears fullback Robert Burns fumbled at the end of a 12-yard run. Peterman fumbled on the final play of the game on a sack at the Colts’ 30-yard line.
The Bears wrap their preseason schedule Saturday at home against the Bills, and Eberflus hasn’t said whether his starters will play.