Why Eberflus thought pass game improved vs. Giants

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The Bears passing continued its ugly start to the season against the Giants in Week 4. Justin Fields only completed 50% of his passes for 174 yards and no touchdowns. The offensive line allowed consistent pressure, and Fields was sacked five times and hit nine times. There were drops. Darnell Mooney ended as the only wide receiver to catch a pass. And yet, Matt Eberflus said he thought the passing attack improved on Sunday.

“We got Mooney going today, which was really good to see,” Eberflus said. “I think that’s a positive going forward. Cole Kmet had three receptions so we got him going. You saw some more explosive passes in the pass game, so that’s a positive.”

There’s something to that. Coming into the game, the Bears’ 4.3 net yards per pass attempt ranked dead last in the NFL. Justin Fields was pressured on 35.9% of his dropbacks, the second-highest rate in the league. The Bears barely pushed the ball down field and rarely hit on explosive plays in the pass game. They did marginally better in those categories against the Giants. Fields was still under pressure throughout the game, as the Giants brought the blitz a lot, but Eberflus thought Fields handled the pressure “relatively well.” Fields managed 5.5 NY/A. He hit three passes of 20+ yards, one of which went for 50+.

“I loved the way he was throwing the ball down the field,” Eberflus said. “That’s going to open up some more things for us.”

Despite any incremental progress, the Bears need to do much better with their pass game. They need to protect Fields better, and Fields needs to do better adjusting protections at the line. The Bears need to push the ball downfield more, and players need to execute when those plays are called. Up and down, from the coaches to the players, there is plenty of room for improvement.

“It’s just about creating momentum, and it’s all about getting chunk plays,” Eberflus said. “If you can create chunk plays, that’s when you score. That’s what happens. You look at any scoring drive in the NFL this week, I’ll guarantee it had some sort of chunk play in there that scored. Very rarely can you very methodically go down the field without having some sort of explosive play.”

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