Eberflus changing Bears practice to kick start team

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It’s only been five weeks, but the Bears have already developed a troubling trend of starting games slowly. Whether it’s pre-snap issues on offense, or getting run over on defense, it’s been rough for the team in the first half. They’re averaging only 7.8 points over the first two quarters (tied for 26th in the NFL), while surrendering 16 points (tied for 30th). In the second half, the offense still isn’t great, but it’s better, averaging 9.4 points (tied for 19th). The big improvement is on the defensive side, where the team has limited opponents to 5.2 points (fifth-best in the NFL).

We’ve heard a lot about how effective the Bears are at making halftime adjustments, but why can’t they start the first half the same way? Is it a problem with their pregame routine? Do they need to improve how they make in-game adjustments in the first two quarters? Or does it come down to something the team is, or isn’t, doing earlier in the week?

“We’re looking at everything,” said Matt Eberflus. “You have to look at everything. I think it’s probably a combination of those things. Sometimes it’s just a mindset, it’s a mentality. Right now we have a great mentality for the second half, coming out and playing tough and playing strong and having stamina and all those things we talk about. But we’ve got to come out fast and start fast.”

One thing the Bears will do is adjust how they practice. Eberflus said he’ll change the tempo of their practices, and the amount of reps each player is receiving throughout the week. He and his staff are still working out the details of exactly how they want to run practice moving forward, but those are tangible changes he believes can help the team succeed sooner.

All of that is well and good, but Nick Morrow put the onus on the players to execute better starting at the opening kickoff.

“I don't know if there is any true answer to it cause it's not a different set of players on the field in the second half than it is in the first half,” said Morrow. “It's the same players, same coaching staff, so it's just we gotta play better in the first half.”

Even with the abysmal start to Week 5, the Bears clawed back to take a fourth-quarter lead. It showed great resilience on the players’ part to fight back, but ultimately they couldn’t seal the win. So Eberflus won’t be solely focused on the team’s starts when going through his coaching points this week.

“We have to finish and finish and make the plays down the stretch to win the game,” Eberflus said. “That doesn’t mean special plays. You just gotta make the mundane plays normal and make sure that we execute in those moments. Then we’ll have good results at the end of those moments.”

Despite the roller coaster start to the season, the Bears remain outwardly confident. There doesn’t seem to be any finger pointing, and there’s a sense of genuine belief that they can improve.

“It’s still early in the season,” said David Montgomery. “We can still do incredible things and we will. If we just stay completely solid with each other and we just be sure that we stay grounded throughout this whole thing then we’ll be good.”

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