3 things that stood out to Eberflus in Week 15 loss

(2) Eberflus lauded the defense for creating three takeaways.

After producing only one takeaway in the previous five games, the Bears defense generated three against the Eagles, who entered Week 15 with just 10 turnovers on the season, the fewest in the NFL. Defensive backs Kyler Gordon and DeAndre Houston-Carson intercepted Jalen Hurts passes, and defensive tackle Mike Pennel Jr. forced a Miles Sanders fumble on a screen pass that Gordon recovered.

“The takeaways were outstanding,” Eberflus said. “I thought overall we ended up getting some pressure through some blitzing. I think that helped out a little bit, and we did make the quarterback uneasy a titch.”

Eberflus felt the Bears tackled well, saying: “I thought our tackling looked good, low. We were driving our feet.” He was particularly impressed with veteran Joe Thomas, who entered the game early in the second half at middle linebacker after rookie starter Jack Sanborn exited with an ankle injury.

“I thought [Thomas] did an excellent job of stepping into that role,” Eberflus said. “He hasn’t had a lot of time on task in that role. He has been mostly a SAM linebacker and working on special teams and doing a good job there as well. I thought he made a couple nice real good tackles, put his hitting on display, which I’m always impressed with guys who like to hit. So that was good.”

Eberflus also praised rookie second-round picks Gordon and Jaquan Brisker, who returned to action after missing the previous two games with concussions.

“I thought those guys made some impactful plays,” Eberflus said. “And then obviously the highlighted ones would be Gordon’s takeaways. That was pretty impressive.”

Eberflus is eager to see Gordon and Brisker continue to develop over the final three games of the season.

“Those guys have done well,” Eberflus said. “Those guys are high-energy guys. You can feel their passion. You can feel their intensity on the game field. And they do that in practice. It’s encouraging to see those guys, and I’m expecting big things out of those guys these next three games.”