Three things Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Friday after win over Commanders

Bears coach Matt Eberflus met with reporters on Friday at Halas Hall to go over a win for the first time this season. The Bears took their first game Thursday in a 40-20 victory over the Washington Commanders.

The Bears will now have a "mini-bye" week before getting back to game action against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field on Oct. 15. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Eberflus' media session Friday.

On Justin Fields' continued growth

Eberflus was confident that Fields' last two games was the growth Bears fans had hoped they'd see this season.

"You can just feel it, you can feel the guys around him and the comfort level and the confidence they're having, the chemistry that they're having, you can see it in practice, you can see it in the games," Eberflus said. "To me, the growth is about the execution, and the consistency of that execution. In the game and practice, we've seen it."

Fields put together two of his best games in the past six days. He threw eight touchdowns, one interception and completed 43 of his 64 attempts for 617 yards against the Denver Broncos and Commanders.

Eberflus also noted that Fields looked more comfortable throwing aggressive passes, like his 56-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore in the fourth quarter against Washington. He's excited to watch Fields stack more games like the last two.

"The comfort level and I think you see the poise when he's in the pocket and when we move him out of the pocket," Eberflus said. "I think he's getting chemistry with the group overall, you can see great chemistry with [Moore], Cole [Kmet], [Darnell] Mooney and the rest of the guys who are catching for us."

On making defensive staff additions

The Bears will look at whether they want to make any additions to the defensive staff this weekend.

"We're having conversations on that," Eberflus said. "If it's right for us and it works for us, that's great. If it doesn't, it'll be what it is. We're still looking at it."

The Bears defense had its best game of the season Thursday after giving up a 21-point lead to the Broncos on Sunday. The defense finished with five sacks - it had two in four games entering Thursday's game - 11 quarterback hits, one interception and one fumble recovery.

Eberflus has called defensive plays and served as the team's defensive coordinator since former defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned before the Bears played the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3. The coach said he was open to anything and would continue to call offensive plays for the foreseeable future.

"There's nothing wrong with bringing someone in who can help, adds a different perspective," Eberflus said. "We're open-minded to that."

On heading into a long week with a win

Eberflus thought heading into a long week with a win would have a good physiological benefit for the team after starting the season 0-4 and losing 14 straight games dating back to last season.

"It's good because when you work at something and you have adversity, you just learn how to do hard better," Eberflus said. "When you have that happen to you, then you have success. That makes it more lasting, you remember how that feels, the hard part of it."

Eberflus used Friday to self-scout both the defense and offense so the coaching staff could come up with a plan for each player on how to improve when they return to Halas Hall on Monday. He was encouraged by the growth he saw in Thursday's game and hopes to see more of that in the second quarter of the season.

"The guys did a good job with that, sticking in there," Eberflus said. "Playing one play at a time and finishing the game it's supposed to be finished."