Bears coach Matt Eberflus espouses the next-man-up philosophy like every football coach ever. But he couldn’t ignore the obvious. The next man up in this case won’t be as good as Roquan Smith.
“Obviously you have a Pro Bowl player that is leading the NFL in tackles — I’m not sure you do really replicate that,” Eberflus said. “So you shift guys around, and put guys in place and next man up — he plays and it’s gonna be good for that locker room, getting experience and more playing time.”
