Bears and Matt Eberflus say they can block out negative noise

Coach Matt Eberflus sees his Bears improving.

No, really.

It seems strange to hear considering Eberflus is one of the names at the top of the list of the next coach to be fired. The Caesars Sports Book.

Actually, Eberflus isn’t as high as some think he would be on the odds list, mainly because of other dismal coaching situations and also because of Jerry Jones.

Eberflus is +650, or a 13.3% chance of being fired next. The leader on the board is Brian Daboll of the Giants at +250 or a 28.6% chance, with Jaguars coach Doug Pederson second at +375, Mike McCarthy of the Cowboys third at +450 and Kevin Stefanski of the Browns, fourth at +600. .

Eberflus likes to point out that improvement in a team or a player isn’t always in an upward trend, so the Bears are apparently at a two-week plateau if you look at it that way.

“Again, we’re a growing team, we’re an improving team,” Eberflus said. “I know we haven’t improved on the win-loss front in recent weeks, but we have to continue to find answers and keep improving to where we are now in the season.

“We’re 4-4, we’re halfway there. We’ve got to do a good job finding answers in Patriots week.”

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The Bears’ view is that many teams go from 4-4 halfway through to reach the playoffs, and that’s true.

They wouldn’t normally do that when they face one of the toughest schedules in the league over the final nine games. In fact, they have the toughest remaining schedule according to Tankathon.comwith a .548 winning percentage for opponents.

“Like I said, it’s not linear, we talked about that,” Eberflus said. “We had three wins in a row and again, there are still good things we are doing.

“We are still good with football, we have done an excellent job there.”

The Bears had eight turnovers, the seventh-fewest heading into Monday night’s game between the Chiefs and Buccaneers.

“We’ve done a good job of playing complementary football at times, but over the last few weeks we just have to make sure we look hard for answers this week,” Eberflus said. “That’s the only thing we can control: this week here.”

If the pressure has now increased on the players at 4-4 and on Eberflus, the Bears coach shrugs off the effect.

“Just trust the guys in the room,” Eberflus said of his team. “Like I said to the boys after the game, it’s all about us. It’s about the men in the room and the character, the toughness and the determination that each man has and that we collectively have as a football player.” team.

“That’s what you rely on and that’s what you can rely on: the people we brought into the building and that’s really all we need. We have to do a great job of coming together, staying connected and doing good work delivering the execution and improving the aspects we need to improve.”

Outside noise probably affects most players more than they’ll admit. Mitchell Trubisky once said he didn’t listen to it and later asked for the televisions in Halas Hall to be turned off.

Rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze says he’s managed not to worry about it.

“I don’t have Twitter or anything, I don’t really go on social media to look at people criticizing the organization, so I don’t hear it,” Odunze said. “But there are always sources like (media members) letting me know that those things are going on, so of course I’m naive about those things that are happening, but I hear it but I don’t hear it, you know what I mean?

“These are things that I don’t pay attention to and that have no priority in my thinking.”

Safety Kevin Byard has been through enough seasons to expect these ups and downs.

“So for me, I tend to focus on what’s true and I tend to focus on what’s in front of me and I tend to focus on the guys and the coaches that are in our building,” said Byard. “The news from outside will be there. There is nothing you can (do) to stop that.

“It’s about how you deal with distractions, how you deal with things that happen throughout the year, whether it’s in the building or outside.”

Twitter: BearsOnSI