Bears coach Matt Eberflus defends decisions to challenge flags, says the risk was worth it

HOUSTON — After the Bears went 0-for-2 on replay challenges Sunday night, coach Matt Eberflus defended the team’s process even as he admitted he had a lower threshold for appealing because of the situations.

On third-and-10 in the second quarter, the Bears challenged a 21-yard completion to Texans receiver Stefon Diggs along the sideline. The call was quickly upheld.

On second-and-10 with about four minutes left in the third quarter, the Bears challenged the call of an incompletion when they believed cornerback Kyler Gordon intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. Replay quickly showed that the ball hit the ground when Gordon tried to catch it.

In both cases, the Bears lost a timeout. They could have used them, particularly the one they lost in the second half.

“We have a good process for that,” Eberflus said after the 19-13 loss. “It’s a little bit different when you can’t see the monitor right away and it’s a critical play, like a third down or a takeaway. So we do put a little bit of weight on those.”

Before Sunday, Eberflus had challenged five plays in his career and had three overturned.

“We’ve been pretty clean overall since we’ve been here,” he said. “Again, those were just situations where we didn’t get a great look at it and they were critical downs. We made a decision to do it and it didn’t work out.”