LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears hold lots of team meetings, including one each Monday. The most recent instance wasn’t particularly unique, though head coach Matt Eberflus opened the floor for players to address the entire squad.

Linebacker T.J. Edwards said it was a productive one that could help turn the page following a 29-9 thrashing from the Arizona Cardinals.

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“I just felt like it was real,” Edwards said. “Just an understanding of we’re at a point where we gotta put a good product on the field. We gotta go win games and we gotta do good things throughout the week to get that thing going, but also it matters what we do on Sunday.”

Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots needs to be a get-right game after two straight troubling losses that have forced the Bears to have moments of reckoning trying to get back on track.

They didn’t do that well after a last-second loss in Washington. Players spoke up in the press, often questioning coaching decisions, and in private meetings. It didn’t seem to help against Arizona, where they got flat beat in every phase. Caleb Williams said they didn’t move on fast enough. His teammates agree.

“Gosh, I feel like last week was a little bit loud, for sure,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I’ve seen a lot of crazy weeks here, I will say. (laughs) I don’t know if I can say it was the craziest, but it was up there for sure. I think we definitely, as players, could’ve handled it a bit better.”

Kmet said it’ll be easier to get over the Cardinals loss that with what happened against Washington. He felt Monday’s team meeting helped with that, allowing the team to clear the air. Coming out of it, the Bears are motivated to show fans who they really are.

A lot has been said over the past couple weeks about sticking together and learning from mistakes, but the Bears must, at some point, lets their actions speak.

“At some point, the talking only gets you so far,” Kmet said. “You try to solve issues that way. But at the end of the day, you have to go do it on the football field.”

They must do well consistently, not just against New England and the league’s cellar dwellers. The team’s player leadership is vocal and committed to turning things around following a difficult stretch. While the Bears aren’t afraid to say what they feel, that doesn’t put a strain on the overall team dynamic.

“We’re really transparent with one another, which is a healthy and good thing,” Kmet said. “Look, I’m not going to get around that we’re all very emotional about this game. I think the previous week, after Washington, showed itself. But I don’t feel any sort of strain. I feel like we have a good partnership with the coaches and I do think there’s good transparency between the two groups. At the end of the day, we’re all about winning.”

Bad news on Billings, Brisker

Bears defensive tackle Andrew Billings tore his pectoral muscle during the loss to Arizona and will have surgery soon to repair it. While Eberflus wouldn’t say Billings was done for the year, the recovery timetable for injuries of this type is long.

That’s a significant blow to the defensive line, because Billings is a one-of-one player on this roster. He’s a massive human at 6-foot-1 and 311 pounds, someone who can shut down the run on the defensive interior and get after it rushing the passer.

Replacing his production will be difficult. Replacing his size and power might not happen. The Bears have some depth on the interior defensive line, and that will be called into action moving forward.

“It’s the brutal part about this game,” Eberflus said. “He’s our guy. He makes a lot of good things happen, but that group is so close that I know there’s going to be guys stepping up to fill that void. He’ll be with us every step of the way. That’s the brutal part about this.”

Eberflus also said that safety Jaquan Brisker is still dealing with a concussion and won’t play on Sunday.

O-Line ailing

Starting offensive tackle Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright missed Wednesday’s practice, though Eberflus is hopeful one of them will be available against the Patriots. Losing one or both for any stretch is a major blow to an stumbling offense trying to get right and protect Caleb Williams.

“You’ve gotta step in there and perform, and do it a high level,” Eberflus said. “Again, as we said we cross trained a lot of guys over the course of this time, and during training camp and during early part of the season and that’s gonna … we’re going to have to really function that way. But we try to make it less moves as possible. If you can make one move, that’s great. You don’t like to make two moves if you can help it. So, we’ll try to do that.