Chicago Bears takeaway No. 3: This Bears team is already forming an identity
Do you remember how the Matt Nagy era struggled to find its identity — specifically on offense? Well, Matt Eberflus has brought his HITS philosophy to Chicago and it seems as though this team is finding its identity already on both sides of the ball.
We will have to wait and see if this identity translates onto the football field on gameday, but hearing Ryan Griffin talk about the offense, the one thing that stands out to me is his constant reference to being a hard-nosed, physical football team. We have already come to see this when the team was punished for being too physical. The Bears aren’t the first team to be punished for this and quite frankly, the teams that are punished for it usually play well that season.
Now, I’m not going to say that this team is a lock to make the playoffs. They have a better chance of finishing behind the Lions in the division than clawing their way into a playoff spot. That said, I do believe the team will surprise people and they have an outside shot of sneaking into the playoffs. Again, not likely, but still possible. The key will be keeping this identity going throughout training camp, the preseason, and into the 2022 regular season. If they remain disciplined, then anything is possible.
Matt Eberflus used one word to describe why the team should do well, even with younger, non-established players: standards.