Hail Mary follows Matt Eberflus to Arizona — and (almost) repeats itself in Bears’ ugly loss

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Hail Mary — and the hail — followed Bears coach Matt Eberflus to Arizona.

Minutes after the Cardinals decided to close State Farm Stadium’s roof because of ice pellets falling from the darkening sky to the parched desert floor, the Bears gave up another ridiculous end-of-half score in a 29-9 shellacking Sunday.

Against the Commanders a week earlier, the Bears allowed a 52-yard Hail Mary for a touchdown as time expired to lose at the gun. Against the Cardinals, the Bears gave up a 53-yard run as the clock ticked down at the end of the first half. By the time running back Emari Demercado weaved through Bears tacklers and crossed the goal line, there were four seconds left in the first half.

The Bears seemingly learned nothing from last week’s debacle — except maybe how to spin it. Eberflus was quick to take responsibility for Sunday’s missteps, starting with the long touchdown run. Eberflus said he made the wrong defensive call — a pass pressure — on the 53-yard run.

That public accountability was missing for most of last week.

“Overall, it’s just not good enough,” Eberflus said. “Not good enough by the players, by the coaches, by the staff — everybody’s involved. That’s what I said to the guys [in the locker room]. It starts with the coaches putting you in position to make plays. We didn’t do a good enough job of that.”

Eberflus has to do a better job, period. This was the 4-4 Bears’ worst game of the season after their worst week of the year.

‘‘A heartbreaker last week,” tight end Cole Kmet said, “and then getting our [butt] kicked this week.”

The Bears were undisciplined, unfocused and punchless. In all three phases, they were markedly worse than they were against the Commanders, a game in which Tyrique Stevenson’s histrionics at the start of the game-winning Hail Mary made the franchise a national punch line.

The locker room didn’t rally — around Eberflus or Stevenson or anyone else. The defense Eberflus runs gave up as many points in the first half as they had in any full game all season. The Bears’ special teams turned three Cardinals points into seven when defensive tackle Gervon Dexter was called for a leverage penalty while trying to block a field goal. An offense that struggled all day against one of the NFL’s worst defenses suffered indignity in the fourth quarter when running back D’Andre Swift was flagged for a chop block while in the end zone, handing the Cardinals a safety.

Cracks in the foundation of the Bears’ much-ballyhooed culture began to show last week when veterans openly questioned decisions made by Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron against the Commanders. Eberflus told players he preferred they keep such criticisms in-house.

Players said after the game that they still bought into what the team was selling. Even having to ask the question, though, shows how hopeless the last eight days had been.

Safety Kevin Byard said, “I didn’t see nobody quit.’’

Linebacker T.J. Edwards, another captain, said he wasn’t worried about the locker room fracturing: “We’re a team that the first thing we do is stay together.’’

After Eberflus addressed the team, a handful of players took turns speaking.

“I think we were all receptive to it,” quarterback Caleb Williams said. “Coach Flus mainly talked about us staying together. Obviously, these losses are tough. There’s not much to say after. We all gotta be better. That was his message, and he was speaking to coaches, himself and us players.”

Williams said “all the guys are bought in.” Eberflus agreed.

“My buy-in is all-in, and I know theirs is, too,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of football to play.”

It feels like time is running out, though. And we know how the Bears perform when that happens.