3 things we heard from Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus, including consideration of defensive coaching help and Khalil Herbert’s injury

The Chicago Bears receive a small break after their first win of the season, a 40-20 victory against the Washington Commanders on Thursday night in Landover, Md.

After playing two games in five days, the Bears have 10 days before their Week 6 game against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. Coach Matt Eberflus met with reporters Friday to talk about the end to his team’s 14-game losing streak and what’s ahead.

Here are three things we learned.

1. Matt Eberflus said the Bears are having conversations about whether they will bring in another defensive coach.

With the Bears’ official bye week set for Week 13, they will use this “mini-bye” to regroup.

Eberflus said part of that review will include identifying whether they will bring in any outside help for his defense after the resignation of coordinator Alan Williams in Week 3. He said the Bears are “working through that right now.”

“We’re having conversations on that,” Eberflus said. “If it’s right for us and it works for us, that’s great. If it doesn’t, it will be what it is. But we’re still looking at it. We have an open mind certainly on all those things to make us better, and there’s nothing wrong with bringing someone in that can help, that has a different perspective.”

Eberflus took over defensive play calling when Williams left, and he has said his plan is to call plays the rest of the season, though he has left the topic a little open-ended.

“Right now, my plan is to do that, for sure,” Eberflus said. “But we’ll see where it goes.”

Eberflus said he began meeting with the defensive coaches Friday morning for the self scout, going through run and pass defenses and third-down, two-minute and red-zone situations. Along with evaluating their scheme, they summarize what each individual player does well and what they need to work on so they can present each player in all three phases with a report when they return to Halas Hall on Monday.

2. The Bears ‘don’t have that answer yet’ on the health of Khalil Herbert.

Herbert suffered what originally looked to be an ugly injury when he landed awkwardly on his right leg in the third quarter. Trainers tended to him for what the team called an ankle injury, but he walked off and later could be seen bouncing around on the sideline. He reentered the game two drives later but fell down when trying to advance on a catch. He left the game after rushing for 76 yards and didn’t return.

“We’ll see where it is,” Eberflus said. “We’ve got to see it when he’s in here with the doctors. We’ll just assess it as it goes. We certainly hope it isn’t (long term).”

Herbert is the Bears’ leading rusher with 51 carries for 272 yards — 5.3 yards per carry. He told reporters after the game that he still was trying to figure out what happened on the play when he was injured but added, “I’ll be OK.”

The Bears also have running backs Roschon Johnson, D’Onta Foreman and Travis Homer on the roster. But Johnson was ruled out while in concussion protocol during the game, and Homer had a hamstring injury, leaving fullback Khari Blasingame to assume the fourth-quarter rushing load. He had eight carries for 26 yards.

Foreman, who had a breakout 2022 season with 914 rushing yards for the Carolina Panthers, has played in only one game and has been inactive for the other four.

The extra time off could be good for the Bears’ physical health after multiple players left with injuries, including center Lucas Patrick and cornerbacks Terell Smith and Greg Stroman Jr. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson and safety Eddie Jackson have been on the mend for weeks and sat out the whole game.

3. Eberflus has seen the confidence of quarterback Justin Fields grow over the last 2 weeks.

Fields threw for 617 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception combined in the Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos and Thursday’s win against the Commanders.

It’s by far the best two-game stretch of his career, and Eberflus said he “can just see the confidence” of Fields.

“When you have growth in your profession or my profession or him being a pro quarterback, you can just feel it,” Eberflus said. “And you can feel the guys around him, the comfort level and the confidence that they’re having, the chemistry that they’re having. You can see it in practice, you can see it in the games.”

The key now, Eberflus said, is to execute as he has with consistency and stack games together.

Fields’ performances in back-to-back weeks, including pulling out the win in the fourth quarter Thursday, and the offensive game plans have quieted some of the angst about his career trajectory. And at least for now, the win quieted some of the talk of Eberflus’ job security.

But Eberflus sidestepped a question about the win helping keep some of the criticism at bay.

“We take one game at a time,” he said. “We’re going to stick to the process of how we do our business, and if we keep doing it right, good things are going to happen.”