Chicago Bears errors put two players in the crosshairs

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Bears coach Matt Eberflus normally leans towards the players when it comes to calling out people who make mistakes in games.

In other words, he will defend his guys.

After Sunday’s 25-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Eberflus seemed a little less forgiving when two players who made mistakes further hurt the team’s chances in an upset.

Looks like he’s not ready to cut the bait on rookie Velus Jones Jr. and kicker Cairo Santos, but Eberflus certainly wasn’t happy with a key fumble from Jones running the ball down the right side and another Cairo Santos kick problem.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like it,” Eberflus said. “I don’t like it when guys lose the ball. It’s not good. Guys have to do a better job of securing the ball.”

Jones was pushed into a bigger role than just kicking back because injuries kept N’Keal Harry (back) and Chase Claypool (knee) out, then Equanimeous St. Brown was out with a concussion .

The Bears were in their best position of the day to take a late lead as they were down 17-13 with the ball in the third quarter and Jones ended about 2 yards from the Eagles 40 but spat it late on the game and Haason Reddick recovered for the Eagles.

“I’m an aggressive player so I’m always trying to fight for extra yards and stuff, trying to separate two defensemen,” Jones said. “But I just have to put two hands on the ball and I think someone put it out behind me.

“Yeah, I know what the right approach is. You just gotta keep both hands on the ball.”

The Bears still had two more possessions to try to take the lead after that fumble and still haven’t made it.

It was Jones who helped cost the Bears games earlier this season with key punts against the Giants and Commanders.

“The other two, you have two failed punts because it’s different, not when you have the ball secured,” Eberflus said. “We’re going to look at him. Again, he has to stay encouraged. He has to keep working and doing the right things. I know he can do it right. We’re going to train him to do it that way.”

Jones agreed with Eberflus to stay positive.

“A lot of things are going to happen while you’re playing this sport,” Jones said. “A lot of things are not going your way. It all depends on how you come back and play for the next one. And so that’s behind me. There’s nothing I can do about it now, just have a positive attitude and keep coming back work.”

A winless run and a 3-yard reception were Jones’ contributions that day.

Santos drew criticism from Eberflus, but not for his obvious missed fifth extra point of the season that left the Bears leading 6-3 in the second quarter. Of course, the Bears weren’t happy about that, but the irritant for Eberflus was an onside kick attempt in the final minutes after the Bears went 25-20.

DeVonta Smith picked it up after 9 yards as the ball went straight in his direction and proved easy to manage.

“We need to kick better there,” Eberflus said. “I think he only went 9 yards. Cairo gave a great kick in training, that spinning kick. He’s doing really well. We have to execute there at this time -the.”

Santos’ problem with missing five extra points is strange because he hasn’t been so imprecise on the field goals. He only has two field goal misses, one on a block and the other at 56 yards.

Eberflus said Santos was not injured.

“I think it’s just an execution,” Eberflus said. “You look at the details of where everything is: the snap, the grip, the sole foot, all those things that we look at in detail. Just look at it that way.

“It’s like anything else, any other skill you try to do, it’s all about the details. You just have to look at it carefully. We’ll keep training it and Cairo will be fine. ”

The missed extra point apparently didn’t sway the first-half decision to shoot from the Eagles’ 31-yard line rather than throw a field goal from 48 or 49 yards in a 3-degree wind chill with 15 winds. mph.

Eberflus and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower had discussed with Santos the upwind limitations earlier.

“His strike line was 27 yards with the wind today,” Eberflus said.

That would have been a limit of 44 or 45 meters into the wind.

“When it was there at 31, we were out of our kick line there, we were going to take a delay, a punt and a pin,” Eberflus said. “I did a really good job of punting and pinning today.”

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