Three's a Charm

With Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Browns, the Munsters have now blown three fourth-quarter double-digit leads in going down to defeat. Fingers crossed, this means the end of head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Eberflus/Getsy twice went for it on fourth down instead of trying admittedly long, fifty-plus-yards’ field goals; both times, Cleveland prevailed. Cairo Santos makes one of those kicks, and the Bears might have walked away with their third straight victory. Joe Flacco, all thirty-eight years of him, got intercepted three times, and still he engineered the winning drive(s). Flacco threw for 212 yards in the fourth quarter. In the future, the Bears’ secondary might want to hold off on celebrating takeaways until the game’s over. Here’s the thing. There’s no way Flacco gets to pull this off if he’s quarterbacking the Munsters; after three interceptions, E/G would’ve run the ball or seen how many bubble screens they could call over the course of fifteen minutes. Or, in total desperation, they would’ve mixed runs up the middle with bubble screens. Here's another thing—Flacco doesn’t get to do anything if the Bear offense were awake in the fourth quarter. Perish the thought. Other teams play to increase their lead. The Munsters only want to preserve the lead. This is how receiver Darnell Mooney put it: “I didn’t like how we felt comfortable in the third quarter, just lackadaisical and conservative. Everybody was just happy we were winning.” [today’s Tribune] Yes, indeed. The Bears ran the ball twenty-seven times, enough to make you think they racked up a lot or yards. Nope, just eighty-eight. The Browns managed a mere twenty-nine yards on eighteen carries. The difference? Flacco threw for 374 yards to Justin Fields’ 166. But this loss isn’t on Fields; pin it squarely on E/G. Then, send them packing.