Chicago Bears play with discipline in Matt Eberflus’ 1st win

Smart and disciplined football.

It’s something we saw precious little of during much of Matt Nagy’s painful four-year run as head coach of the Bears.

A combination of moronic penalties, stupendously bad play calling and wretched turnovers led to many headache-inducing setbacks for all involved.

Enter Matt Eberflus, the Bears’ new head coach, who has told us that the killer penalties would be a thing of the past.

Losing teams commit those. Winners play hard but rarely beat themselves.

And wow did we see that play out in convincing fashion during the Bears’ stunning 19-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field on Sunday.

It was all the more impressive because of how the first half ended, with the Bears trailing 10-0 and trudging into the locker room after their rookie placeholder committed a 15-yard penalty for wiping off the field with a towel before a field-goal attempt with 25 seconds remaining.

No way do the Bears bounce back from all that and win this game under Nagy.

No way.

Instead, it was the Niners -- a team some believe will reach the Super Bowl -- who came unglued in the second half.

When it was over, it was the Bears who were acting like 8-year-olds and doing belly flops into the drenched North end zone.

“That was awesome,” said quarterback Justin Fields, who was 8-of-17 passing for 121 yards on a rainy, windy afternoon on the lakefront. “We talked about it right before we took the last knee. All the guys were excited to run to the end zone and do that.

“That was a snapshot moment, for sure.”

Said guard Teven Jenkins: “It was a great time. It felt like (being) a little kid again because there’s all this rain, all the cheers.”

Although the Bears hung around in the first half, they couldn’t get anything going on the ground or in the air. David Montgomery had nine carries for 13 yards, and Fields’ only three completions were on screens.

Then it appeared the first drive of the second half was a dud as well, but a 15-yard face mask penalty on third-and-4 gave the Bears new life.

And three plays later they made the Niners pay.

On third-and-10 from their own 49-yard line, Fields scrambled to his left and scanned the field. The Niners overpursued, though, and forgot about wide receiver Dante Pettis.

Standing all by himself, Pettis started thinking: “Oh! Oh! Oh!”

Oh, indeed.

Fields lofted a high spiral to Pettis, who just had to wait for the ball to come down. Once it did, he grabbed it and bolted 51 yards into the end zone to cut San Francisco’s lead to 10-7.

“I (saw) him set up to throw to me and I was like, ‘All right. Let’s go,’” said Pettis, who broke into the league with the Niners in 2018. “The ball felt like it was in the air forever. Just waiting there, caught it basically like a punt and basically took off.”

San Francisco committed two more penalties on the Bears’ next drive, including one of 15 yards for a late hit on Fields. That helped lead to Fields’ 18-yard TD pass to Equanimeous St. Brown, which gave the Bears a 13-10 lead with 12:45 remaining.

On San Francisco’s next drive, Eddie Jackson recorded his first interception since 2019. He ran it back 26 yards and set the Bears up at the Niners’ 21. Moments later, Khalil Herbert charged in from 3 yards out to make it 19-10.

So was this victory for the Bears perfect? Of course not.

But it was a refreshing change and makes us wonder if something special might be brewing in the Windy City.

“Coach always says it’s mental and physical stamina,” Fields said. “Who can play the longest the hardest? Just play every play.

“I think we won this game with mental and physical stamina, so I’m proud of the defense, proud of the O-line.

“Just proud of everybody today.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20220911/eberflus-bears-play-with-discipline-beat-49ers-in-diluvial-debut