Eberflus felt that a lack of execution was the reason the defense struggled.
The Bears defense allowed four 75-yard touchdown drives on the Dolphins' first five possessions as Miami took a 28-17 third-quarter lead. The unit did not record a takeaway, sack or a tackle-for-loss in the game and failed to pressure quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who completed 21 of 30 passes for 302 yards with three touchdowns and a 135.7 passer rating.
"It just comes down to execution," Eberflus said. "I was in the defensive meeting after I was in the offensive meeting today, and they spelled it out for them. They went through every third down and talked about alignment, assignment, key, technique. Then we went through every first down with the same thing. They all looked at each other and said, 'Hey guys, this is execution. We've got to execute better.' When I say 'execution,' that's coaches, the position coaches, the coordinator and myself, right? I'm the head coach. And the players. We've got to do it together and we've got to be better."
The defense did not do an adequate job of covering Dolphins receivers; Tyreek Hill caught seven passes for 143 yards and one TD and Jaylen Waddle added five receptions for 85 yards and one TD.
"When they're getting guys on the move sometimes, they're getting stack alignments, it's harder to get on them as you would like," Eberflus said. "That happened sometimes and then the underneath cover guys have got to do a better job of being disciplined underneath to get up underneath those guys, and we have to do a better job reading our keys."
