Pitchforks and Torches, Please

In their most important game of the season yesterday, the Bears played like the Bears. By sleepwalking their way through a 17-9 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field, they handed Green Bay a wildcard spot. Torches and pitchforks, please. I swear I hear White Sox manager Mickey Mouse every time Bears’ coach Matt Eberflus opens his mouth. Addressing reporters Sunday night, Eberflus offered, “I do know this. The foundation has been set for how we operate. And I do know the locker room. We’re standing on [the] solid ground of hard work, of passion and enthusiasm for the game. And we’re just going to keep working together to improve this.” [today’s Tribune] Setting a pretty low bar for yourself, aren’t you, Matt? The Bears premise their offense on a running game minus the players to make it work. Passion and enthusiasm without the requisite talent usually translates into three-and-out, as the Munsters proved time and again yesterday. They ran the ball 25 times for 75 yards. Do the math. Then show offensive coordinator Luke Getsy the door. (Tony Romo sure sounded like Getsy’s agent, didn’t he?) Oh, and Eberflus, too. Which leads us to Justin Fields, who threw the ball all of sixteen times, completing eleven passes for 148 yards. Compare that to Green Bay’s Jordan Love, who went 27-for-32, good for 316 yards and two touchdowns. Fields was also sacked five times for a loss of 31 yards vs. the Munsters generating one sack of Love for eight yards. Where was Eberflus’ passion and enthusiasm on defense? Fields will do considerably better with a different coach and coordinator. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for in maturity. And, like I said, put him in a different environment, and you may just well see how much untapped potential he was carrying around with him the past three seasons. We’ll probably start seeing proof of that come September. If GM Ryan Poles fires Eberflus and Getsy, he’ll just go out and hire their clones; it’s the way of the organization. If they use the first pick in the draft and go with a quarterback, well, I shudder to think what will happen. Da’ Bears.