Cole Kmet, T.J. Edwards eyeing improvement coming off bye week

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The 4-2 Chicago Bears returned to Halas Hall on Monday to begin their week of preparation for the Week 8 matchup against the Washington Commanders.

Head coach Matt Eberflus addressed the media and provided updates on Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, Scott Daly and Tyrique Stevenson to begin his press conference.

“Brisker is still going through protocol,” Eberflus said. “He’s got a couple more steps to go, but looks good. Kyler, again, is working through his hamstring. We’ll see where that is on Wednesday. Scott was out there today, our long snapper, so that was good, and so was Tyrique. Tyrique was also out there working through some stuff, but we’ll see where that is on Wednesday, but all if hopeful for those guys and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Eberflus also confirmed that offensive lineman Ryan Bates is close to returning to practice, and long snapper Patrick Scales is “in a good spot mentally right now so we’ll see where that goes.”

Also brought up during Eberflus’ presser was Nate Davis and if the veteran offensive lineman is a potential trade candidate.

“I would just say this,” he said. “Of course during this time when you’re leading up to the trade deadline, you’re always going to have guys that are in conversation for those trade talks. I’m not going to talk about particular players or players that we’re looking at potentially, but that’s always going to be the case. It’s part of the business. As an NFL player, you know that. It’s just part of that time that we’re in right now.”

Cole Kmet

Before the Bears entered their bye week, the offense found a rhythm. Caleb Williams and the offense averaged 31.6 points per game and had just one turnover in their last three games. That was a drastic difference from how the unit started the first three weeks of the season — scoring just 15.3 points per game and committing four turnovers.

There was a lot to be encouraged about with how the offense was playing, but by no means was the offense perfect. Cole Kmet, who is now in his fifth season in the NFL, has been a part of his fair share of offenses that have fizzled out at some point throughout the course of the year.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Kmet said. “In the run game, there are still things we need to clean up. Pass game-wise there’s still a lot. In our protection game, still things we can be better at and I think you look at the film and there’s actually some big mistakes that we need to correct that we know of. Once we go against these better teams in the NFL and we start vying to make a playoff push here as the season continues, we have to get those things dialed in.

“There’s definitely a lot to improve on, but as we keep playing here we know our schedule is going to get tougher and tougher, the margins are just going to continue to get more thin and we’ve definitely got to be on our stuff if we want to come out ahead in those type of games.”

One of the areas the Bears must improve is on their first offensive possession of games and the offensive output in the first quarter. The Bears have scored just 10 points in the first quarter all season, and the only points scored on the opening drive of a game came in Week 2 against the Texans, which was a 53-yard field goal by Cairo Santos. DJ Moore‘s 34-yard touchdown against the Panthers is the lone touchdown the Bears have scored in the first quarter.

“Obviously we gotta be better coming out of the game and I think as players we gotta execute better,” Kmet said. “There’s plays that are there for us to hit early on. I think the quicker we can get in our mojo, I think we’ve seen that once we get going and get that first first down and first chunk gain we really start rolling as an offense. We just need to get to that sooner. Especially with the teams coming up that we’re playing, that’s gonna be really important for us to be doing that early and often to give our defense rest early in the game and for us to get ahead early and provide a little bit more of a cushion.”

T.J. Edwards

The Bears defense has easily been the most consistent and dominant group for the 2024 Chicago Bears. The last time the defense allowed more than 21 points was against the Lions on Nov. 19, 2023 — which ended in a 31-26 loss.

Eberflus and defensive coordinator Eric Washington have the unit playing some good football through the first six games of the season, but like the offense, there are still areas that need improvement.

T.J. Edwards, who is now in his second season with the Bears, said the team looked at some things on Monday and identified what could be cleaned up.

“I mean, specifics, we’ll keep that in house,” Edwards said. “But just in general, giving up some big plays I think at times and getting teams behind the sticks in ways is something that we’re looking at too. So I think from top to bottom we know that there’s a couple things that each group could do better, including myself. So we’re excited to get things going.”

After the Week 6 slate of games concluded, the Bears were ranked 28th in the NFL in opponent explosive plays given up with 46, according to TruMedia. Luckily the defense is currently ranked fifth in the league in opponent red zone efficiency, which has allowed the Bears to bend and not break against their opponents.

However, once Chicago begins playing more efficient teams in the red zone like the Commanders and the rest of the NFC North, those explosive plays could easily result in touchdowns.

“I mean, I feel like we’ve played well,” Edwards said. “Done some really good things in all facets of the game. But I think for us, we know that we can be a lot better. It’s a group that’s not complacent with anything that we do and that starts with Coach Washington and those things.”