Matt Eberflus on the spot — again — after loss to Colts

Bears coach Matt Eberflus went 10-24 in his first two seasons, but there was never a game that made you wonder if he was the right man for the job as much as Sunday’s 21-16 loss to the Colts did.

The Bears looked like a poorly coached team against the Colts. Even when you consider the extenuating circumstances — a rookie quarterback, a new offensive coordinator, it was the third game of the season, it was on the road, and wide receiver Keenan Allen was out — the Bears lost a game they should have won. And many coaching elements — preparedness, communication, play-calling, play design and matchups among them — were to blame.

Eberflus, to his credit, accepted his share of the culpability for some of the mishaps — the third-and-goal run that left 5-8 wide receiver DeAndre Carter to block 6-3, 267-pound Colts defensive end Tyquan Lewis was a mistake. Calling time out to clarify the two-point conversion attempt after Caleb Williams’ touchdown pass cut the Colts’ lead to 14-9 was unnecessary.

But there was more. Williams and DJ Moore miscommunicated on the Bears’ first pass of the game. The Bears ran 28 times for 63 yards against a Colts defense that had allowed 261 rushing yards on 53 carries against the Packers. The Bears ran seven plays after timeouts for a net of minus-one yard.

Bears fans are used to panicking about the quarterback situation, but the only concern about Williams after the first three games of the season is that the Bears’ coaching staff might ruin him. He otherwise looks like the real deal, even with a 55.7 passer rating through three games.

So going into Sunday’s game against the Rams at Soldier Field, all eyes will be on Williams, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and an offensive line that has failed to clear even a lowered early-season bar. But it’s Eberflus who’s on the spot, needing now more than ever to disprove the notion that he’s an excellent defensive coordinator who's out of his element as an NFL head coach.

“We all saw there’s a couple things we need to clean up and we gotta get better at,” Eberflus said. “We have to evaluate what and how and the process of doing — that’s what we did the last couple days.”

But it wasn’t a moment of reflection.

“That’s every week,” Eberflus said. “Every week there’s certain things that don’t come out, that’s out in the open like those certain things were. [And] there’s issues every week you gotta deal with that no one saw. So you gotta make sure you’re always working through that with your coaches and players.”

Eberflus is a classic coaching grinder who never gets rattled, maintains the same demeanor in good times and bad and believes his way eventually will lead to success. But a coach who doesn’t command an offense or tutor quarterbacks like Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan do and doesn’t have Mike Ditka’s power of personality, has to be good at every other facet of coaching — like hiring the right offensive coordinator or staying one move ahead on game day. Or at least having a team that knows it’s going for a two-point conversion in an obvious two-point conversion situation.

Maybe this is just the low point, with Waldron struggling to get the offense going while Kliff Kingsbury — who interviewed for the Bears’ coordinator job but was bypassed for Waldron — has the third-ranked scoring offense in his first year as the Commanders’ offensive coordinator, with rookie Jayden Daniels (111.8 passer rating) looking like the next C.J. Stroud.

It’s early. And things can change quickly in the NFL. But three games into his third season with the Bears, Eberflus has to know that it gets late pretty quickly around here. Even with a rookie quarterback.