Justin Fields, Thursday Night Football and more

(3) Will the Bears get off to a faster start?

In their first five games this season, the Bears have allowed 11 touchdowns in the first half and only one in the second half. They’ve yielded 56 points in the second quarter and 50 in the other three periods combined. Getting off to a faster start has been a major topic of conversation heading into Thursday night’s game.

“I think it’s going to just be coming out starting hot right away,” said linebacker Roquan Smith, “not waiting to get hit in the mouth and then respond, just going out and taking the fight to those guys from start to finish, and I think if we do that, we’ll see just how good we are.”

Eberflus has considered changing how the Bears practice and altering their pregame warmup routine in an effort to get off to faster starts. Last Sunday in Minnesota, the Bears gave up touchdowns on three straight possessions in falling behind 21-3 before rallying to take a 22-21 fourth-quarter lead.

“We’re looking at everything,” Eberflus said. “You have to look at everything. Sometimes it’s just a mindset, it’s a mentality. Right now we have a great mentality for the second half, coming out and playing tough and playing strong and having stamina and all those things we talk about. But we’ve got to come out fast and start fast.”