Chicago seeks its first victory of 2023 in Washington against Ron Rivera, an old acquaintance of the Bears who knows what the team is going through
Ron Rivera understands what the Chicago Bears are going through.
In his first three seasons as head coach of the Washington Commanders, the former Bears linebacker and assistant coach dealt with off-sports distractions again and again, from NFL and Congressional investigations into former owner Dan Snyder, to the raid carried out by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on the team’s facilities and the home of kinesiologist Ryan Vermillion.
At the beginning of the season, Rivera welcomed a series of questions about a situation with the long snapper, because that was the Commanders’ biggest problem, and it’s good to worry about sports issues.
The Chicago Bears have yet to win this season. Getty Images
“Things have changed and everything is different,” he said. “It’s refreshing.”
This is not the case with the Bears, who are in the middle of chaos due to non-sports issues, plus they have not won. They visit Washington this Thursday night with players in exile for unknown reasons. His defensive coordinator left the team for what were said to be health and family reasons, and with little reason to believe the team is close to its first win in nearly a year.
Subscribe to Star+!
Enjoy all ESPN content and much more through Star+. Subscribe NOW.
“When you lose, and we’ve lost some games here this year, I think everyone feels frustration,” said head coach Matt Eberflus, who has lost more than a couple of games — 18 of 21 to be exact — since taking over. as head coach of Chicago. “But you must be able to control your emotions and focus on the task at hand.”
The task is a primetime game against the Commanders, who are 2-2 after consecutive losses, but feeling better about themselves after pushing the defending NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles to the limit. in extra time. Moral victories don’t count in the NFL, but players see what’s next on the schedule, starting with the Bears, and know it’s time to rack up wins.
“We have a lot of games ahead of us that are winnable, for sure,” said second-year catcher Jahan Dotson. “We should be doing pretty well in this small window.”
What’s coming up for Washington are games visiting the Atlanta Falcons and against the New York Giants, who have been outscored 94-15 in their three losses. But first there are the Bears who are 0-4 and have just blown a 21-point lead to lose to the Denver Broncos.
And that’s just the beginning of the problems at Halas Hall, where receiver Chase Claypool is not welcome. Eberflus declined to say why, and general manager Ryan Poles asked Claypool to stay away from the team.
“We feel like for now that’s the best decision for us,” Eberflus said.
The drama surrounding Claypool comes after defensive coordinator Alan Williams abruptly resigned a few weeks ago and quarterback Justin Fields suggested he was overtrained, comments he later sought to amend. Fields responded on the field, with the best game of his career, 335 yards and four touchdowns against the Broncos, a spark of hope for the Bears, who last won a game on October 24, 2022.
2023-10-05 12:37:00
#midst #crisis #Bears #visit #Commanders
