The Chicago Bears lost to the Cleveland Browns in heartbreaking fashion. With two-score leads over the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos and now this loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Bears have three games in which they can say they choked away. The team could easily be in the playoff mix, and now they have three games with little on the line.
However, there are some positive takeaways from the loss that has to be brought up.
3. The Chicago Bears have found building blocks on their roster
Last year, the Chicago Bears roster was a complete mess, with question marks everywhere. This year, the team is not winning as much as they would like, but they do have some pieces that are starting to show. D.J. Moore is clearly one of the best receivers in the NFL.
Even when he did not have a blowup performance, Moore mustered up 50 yards against the elite Browns' defense. He did so playing through injury. You could see he was not completely right, but it set an example as a veteran who is making it happen for the team.
Montez Sweat had multiple sacks and was a presence all game. He changed the pass rush upfront. DeMarcus Walker has been coming into his own since the sweat trade, as has Gervon Dexter. Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards are more sound now than they were in September, and Jaylon Johnson will come back next year to lead the secondary, even if that is on the franchise tag.
On offense, it looks like they have two talented tackles to join D.J. Moore. Almost all of these players have been added in the last offseason, with Braxton Jones being added last year and Jaylon Johnson being a leftover from the last regime. Still, the core of the roster has been established; the question is now coach and quarterback. Those have to be fixed, but this is not the restart project it was a few years ago.
2. The Chicago Bears have two picks in the top five
The Chicago Bears lost, but they are still winning in the long haul. As we noted, the roster is already shaping up. The reality is that it can take a huge jump this offseason as well. Not only do the Bears have a lot of cap space, they are going to have two highly valuable picks. First, even with the Carolina Panthers winning, they hold the first overall pick. That goes a long way with three weeks to go.
On top of that, they now hold onto the fifth overall pick. If the Chicago Bears kept winning, they were going to be outside the top ten. A win on Sunday would have put them in the 8-12 range of the draft. The Bears have the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons on deck. They may win both of them. So, they may still shoot outside the top five, but this loss will soften just how high they pick. Beyond that, it is the Bears, so you know that they are not going to win out.
The short-term is really annoying, but when the Bears started the season 0-4, it was a quick shift to the longer-term aspirations. The Bears still have those with the loss.
1. This loss should ice Matt Eberflus as Chicago Bears
Let's face it: Matt Eberflus is not a good enough coach to win a Super Bowl in the NFL. He is a good coordinator, but he cannot lead the entire team. We have seen that countless times this season. However, it is a good thing that it happened in two of the Chicago Bears' last four games so that it stays fresh in the minds of ownership and Ryan Poles.
If the Bears finished the year on a six-game winning streak and finished 9-8 and in the playoffs mix, they could not justify firing Matt Eberflus. They were staring down that possibility late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. However, Eberflus showed them just why he would not be in that spot with the loss.
The fact that Eberflus was hired could annoy some fans in the first place. However, holding onto him after this year would have been a disaster, no matter the record. The best thing is to move on, and the result this week suggests that will be the case at the end of the season.