Instant Reactions: Bears fail to rebound in Arizona, Matt Eberflus criticism intensifies

Matt Eberflus still hasn’t won a Sunday road game as the head coach of the Chicago Bears.

Despite the mounting injuries and heightened outside noise over the last week thanks to Matt Eberflus’ decision-making and Tyrique Stevenson’s behavior in Washington, it felt like the Bears had a real chance to rein in back in with a win in Arizona.

Instead, a brutal performance from the offense and defense has many Bears fans in an all too familiar position: hoping for change – now.

Chicago failed to reach the endzone all game, settling for three first-half field goals. Shane Waldron, Caleb Williams and the offense were shut out in the second half.

On defense, the Bears couldn’t contain James Conner and Emari Demercado out of the Arizona Cardinals’ backfield. The crushing blow? After the Bears brought the deficit to five with 26 seconds left in the first half, the defense failed to hold until halftime. Matt Eberflus dialed up a pass rush, Arizona called a run and Demercado sprinted 53 yards to paydirt to leave Chicago down 12 at the half.

After a week of wondering if the Bears would be able to rebound from last week’s heartbreaking Hail Mary loss, we have our answer: no.

Cardinals 29, Bears 9

Adam Hoge

That was just a straight up no-show in the desert. And suddenly everything will be — and should be — questioned. The Bears essentially let themselves get beat twice by one play — with last week’s Hail Mary stink lingering all week until it boarded the plane to Phoenix. Has Matt Eberflus lost this team? It’s a completely fair question at this point. Fortunately, the Patriots come to town next week.

Nicholas Moreano

It happened again. Somehow, the Bears gave up a touchdown just seconds before the end of the half, thanks to Emari Demercado’s 53-yard run. That play alone may have sealed Matt Eberflus’ fate as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. It’s unacceptable for that type of play to happen, especially with how last week ended in Washington.

The Bears needed to win this game but fell short in every aspect. The offense failed to score a touchdown, and Caleb Williams was sacked six times. The defense gave up 213 rushing yards. Gervon Dexter committed a leverage penalty on a field goal attempt, which gave the Cardinals a fresh set of downs that resulted in a touchdown. Just an embarrassing loss that destroyed any realistic chances of the Bears making the postseason.

Greg Braggs Jr.

Biggest indictment of the coaches wasn’t the last second decisions in Washington that led to a hail mary loss. It was the team letting go of the rope in the next game and not responding.

The team looked deflated from the first snap to the last in Arizona. The coaches benched Tyrique Stevenson to start the game trying to hold the players to a standard. And between the weeklong drama and mounting injuries, the Bears just had no fight in them.

Attitude reflects leadership, coach.

Mark Carman

Can’t get much worse. Offense non-existent. Defense gashed. Matt Eberflus calling himself out for calling a pass defense that resulted in a 53-yard TD run. The offensive line isn’t healthy. The D-line lost Andrew Billings. The season is all of a sudden headed down the drain quicker than anyone thought possible. Matt Eberflus’ seat is officially red-hot.

Patrick Norton

I guess if there’s one silver lining in all of this, it’s that Carm’s perfect record for game predictions is officially gone. But that’s about it. Everything else looked like a mess. The offense still doesn’t know how to move the ball in the first half, and now it can’t do it in the second half, either. Good stuff. Defensively, Chicago’s defensive line had the tensile strength of wet toilet paper. Just bad play after bad play on both sides of the ball. Tory Taylor sure can boot it though.

Kevin Kaduk

Sigh.  I’m just so tired of watching Bears games where the overwhelming feeling is embarrassment. The team wasn’t set up for success with an injury report that was just decimating to their depth, but there’s no excuse for a gameplan that didn’t attempt to bandage any of it or an effort level from the team that hurt just as much.  It’s clear that Matt Eberflus is coaching on borrowed time, but are we really expected to watch him at the helm for another nine games? Cruel and unusual punishment.