Bears fans didn’t like a certain move by Mac Jones

The Chicago Bears should be euphoric after their Monday Night win against the New England Patriots. The Bears blew out the Patriots in a surprising fashion featuring two rookies earning their first career interception. Safety Jaquan Brisker, who picked off Mac Jones in the second quarter, should feel great after the turnover. However, he received a hit to his package that might sting Tuesday morning.

On a play in the first half, Jones went for a quarterback slide and lifted his right foot into the crotch of Brisker. It’s hard to look at the footage and not think Jones could have avoided the contact.

Thankfully, Jones would continue to go with balls deep into the secondary on the drive. One of which went where Brisker was playing to snatch instant Karma from the Patriots quarterback.

Bears fans want fines and flags

Bears fans took to Twitter immediately following the contact. Many thought the act was intentional by Jones. Most fans thought it was a dirty play that should have been flagged. Here are some of the best takes on social media following the play.

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Before an improbable win on Monday night, the Bears had become experts in mucking up games. The losing was ugly –even the winning was ugly. None of it was truly enjoyable. But in Foxborough, Mass., they gave fans a pretty gift box with a bow of progress pressed on top.

Focus is almost always on quarterback Justin Fields and it should be, but during Matt Eberflus’ short tenure as Bears coach, we’ve learned something about him; The man can coach a little.

There are always going to be comparisons to his predecessor, Matt Nagy, but soon that might be obsolete. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of questions about how high Eberflus’ ceiling is as a coach, but there are two things about his approach that should be noted and appreciated.

First, Eberflus arrived as an accomplished defensive coordinator. He had been an assistant his whole career. A really good one. Usually when those types of coaches get an opportunity at the top job, they stay on their side of the ball and call plays. In most cases, this is a huge mistake. Calling plays on either side of the ball is as much art as it is science. Understanding game flow and paying close attention to what your players are doing is critical. Head coaches have so much on their plate on game day that handling play-calling often ends in disaster.

Eberflus walked into Halas Hall with a plan to be the CEO of the Bears’ sideline. He puts faith in his staff to do their jobs while he does what traditional head coaches have always done–supervise the people put in place. It’s a small thing, but it smacks of a coach that doesn’t have a heavy ego weighing him down. Eberflus seems to understand that if the team is successful, he’ll be seen as successful. That’s not a small thing.

With huge salaries being thrown around at the college and NFL level, tons of coaches and coaching candidates have been tagged with the moniker “guru.”

There are a few coaches who have lived up to that –Andy Reid and Sean McVay have proved they can handle dual responsibilities. Most cannot. Fighting the allure of everyone telling you how smart you are is a narcotic that many coaches, including Nagy, can’t shake.

The other notable thing about Eberflus is his constant assessment. One win isn’t going to fool me. The Bears have a talent deficiency that will be hard to overcome. To move in that direction means tough decisions and honesty. After the Bears’ demoralizing loss against Washington, Eberflus kept his word by taking the extra time and doing a deep dive into what’s working and what’s not. It takes humility to do that.

It was clear to anyone watching the Bears that this team needed to make changes. Plenty of coaches would hear criticism from the outside and reflexively double-down on their decisions. With 11 days in between the Washington game and meeting up with the Patriots, Eberflus was honest in his “self-scout.” You don’t get an effort like that, on the road, without a true diagnostic of what your team is and isn’t.

But then you have to put a plan into action. Even though the change at center was short-lived, after an injury to Lucas Patrick, the willingness to change is significant and worthy of celebration.

To put what Eberflus has done into context: Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell hasn’t won a road game yet. In 23 games, his team is 0-11-1 away from Detroit. Eberflus picked up his first road win in one of the toughest environments imaginable. Bill Belichick’s record against rookie or second-year quarterbacks in Foxborough entering Monday’s game was 3-42. Think about that. Eberflus and his crew stared the best coach in the world in the eye and didn’t blink.

I don’t know what the future will bring but I know that Eberflus’ lack of ego serves him well. Monday night the Bears won pretty — and it feels pretty good.

You can hear Laurence Holmes talk Chicago sports Monday to Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on 670 The Score with Dan Bernstein.

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Before an improbable win on Monday night, the Bears had become experts in mucking up games. The losing was ugly –even the winning was ugly. None of it was truly enjoyable. But in Foxborough, Mass., they gave fans a pretty gift box with a bow of progress pressed on top.

Focus is almost always on quarterback Justin Fields and it should be, but during Matt Eberflus’ short tenure as Bears coach, we’ve learned something about him; The man can coach a little.

There are always going to be comparisons to his predecessor, Matt Nagy, but soon that might be obsolete. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of questions about how high Eberflus’ ceiling is as a coach, but there are two things about his approach that should be noted and appreciated.

First, Eberflus arrived as an accomplished defensive coordinator. He had been an assistant his whole career. A really good one. Usually when those types of coaches get an opportunity at the top job, they stay on their side of the ball and call plays. In most cases, this is a huge mistake. Calling plays on either side of the ball is as much art as it is science. Understanding game flow and paying close attention to what your players are doing is critical. Head coaches have so much on their plate on game day that handling play-calling often ends in disaster.

Eberflus walked into Halas Hall with a plan to be the CEO of the Bears’ sideline. He puts faith in his staff to do their jobs while he does what traditional head coaches have always done–supervise the people put in place. It’s a small thing, but it smacks of a coach that doesn’t have a heavy ego weighing him down. Eberflus seems to understand that if the team is successful, he’ll be seen as successful. That’s not a small thing.

With huge salaries being thrown around at the college and NFL level, tons of coaches and coaching candidates have been tagged with the moniker “guru.”

There are a few coaches who have lived up to that –Andy Reid and Sean McVay have proved they can handle dual responsibilities. Most cannot. Fighting the allure of everyone telling you how smart you are is a narcotic that many coaches, including Nagy, can’t shake.

The other notable thing about Eberflus is his constant assessment. One win isn’t going to fool me. The Bears have a talent deficiency that will be hard to overcome. To move in that direction means tough decisions and honesty. After the Bears’ demoralizing loss against Washington, Eberflus kept his word by taking the extra time and doing a deep dive into what’s working and what’s not. It takes humility to do that.

It was clear to anyone watching the Bears that this team needed to make changes. Plenty of coaches would hear criticism from the outside and reflexively double-down on their decisions. With 11 days in between the Washington game and meeting up with the Patriots, Eberflus was honest in his “self-scout.” You don’t get an effort like that, on the road, without a true diagnostic of what your team is and isn’t.

But then you have to put a plan into action. Even though the change at center was short-lived, after an injury to Lucas Patrick, the willingness to change is significant and worthy of celebration.

To put what Eberflus has done into context: Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell hasn’t won a road game yet. In 23 games, his team is 0-11-1 away from Detroit. Eberflus picked up his first road win in one of the toughest environments imaginable. Bill Belichick’s record against rookie or second-year quarterbacks in Foxborough entering Monday’s game was 3-42. Think about that. Eberflus and his crew stared the best coach in the world in the eye and didn’t blink.

I don’t know what the future will bring but I know that Eberflus’ lack of ego serves him well. Monday night the Bears won pretty — and it feels pretty good.

You can hear Laurence Holmes talk Chicago sports Monday to Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on 670 The Score with Dan Bernstein.

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Notre Dame has had an incredible history of having elite college tight ends, where does Michael Mayer fair to the tight ends before him?

Many college football programs have been known as “insert position U,” for example, recently LSU and Alabama have been known as “DB U.” Notre Dame is without a doubt “tight end U.” Bringing forward elite tight ends like Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Eifert, Cole Kmet and now Michael Mayer.

Mayer is far and away the best tight end in college football right now, having the nickname “Baby Gronk” as a freshman, and he has lived up to that nickname so far. Mayer set Notre Dame freshman tight end records having 42 receptions and 450 yards. Then following this up with 71 catches for 840 yards and 7 touchdowns. Mayer was named a third team All-American as well. Mayer has been incredible in 2022 as well having 44 catches, 526 yards and 6 touchdowns in just 7 games!

So where does Michael Mayer rank in the ND history books for tight ends? He is currently the Irish tight end leader in receptions with 157, passing Tyler Eifert earlier this year. Tyker Eifert is currently the leader for yards with 1,840, but Mayer is now at 1,816, good for second all time! It’s going to be pretty hard to argue that Mayer is not the best tight end in Notre Dame history after this year.

Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE

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