Minnesota United returned to St. Paul for the home opener Saturday and it looked like they were going to come back down to Earth after being the only MLS club to win on the road last week.

The reigning MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew were giving the Loons a mild reality check with a 1-0 lead the first game at Allianz Field this season.

Then Tani Oluwaseyi scored an equalizer in the 95th minute for a 1-1 draw. It became the last kick of the match.

Without four starters, MNUFC (1-0-1) started strong for a second straight game, building on what they did in a 2-1 win at Austin FC last weekend.

While the Loons didn’t convert, Columbus striker Cucho Hernandez did. The MLS Cup MVP was given too much space at the top of the 18-yard box and beat goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair.

Oluwaseyi picked a great time for his first MLS goal. He was a star on loan with 16 goals for San Antonio FC in the USL Championship last season.

The Loons best scoring chance in the second half came from substitute Loic Mesanvi on a rebound in the 79th minute, but Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte denied the Lakeville native’s chance.

Former Loons striker Christian Ramirez subbed in for Columbus at halftime. Ramirez received a warm welcome back after becoming a legend with 74 goals scored for MNUFC from 2014 until he was traded away in 2018.

St. Clair was huge in the scoreless first half with four saves as Columbus posted an expected goals of 1.4.

St. Clair made a few point-blank saves, two in which he covered up misplays by his fullbacks. In the 34th minute, D.J. Taylor allowed Cucho Hernandez to get in behind, but St. Clair cut down the angle for a save. In the 40th minute, Joseph Rosales turned the ball over, but Max Arfsten’s attempt was stifled by St. Clair.

The Loons’ high press was successful in the opening half hour, with Teemu Pukki having MNUFC’s one shot on goal in the eight minute. The Loons had an xG of 0.5 in the opening 45 minutes.

The Loons were forced into two changes from their 2-1 win at Austin FC last Saturday. With Robin Lod and Franco Fragapane suffering injuries in Texas, Caden Clark and Alejandro Bran made their first starts for MNUFC.

Clark, of Medina, estimated he would have roughly 40 familuy and friends in attendance Saturday. Clark assisted on Bran’s eventual game-winner last weekend.

Clark exited in the 60th minute for Mesanvi, and Pukki stepped off for Tani Oluwaseyi.

Briefly

MNUFC2 is scheduled to play in U.S. Open Cup first round versus Chicago House in Elmhurst, Ill., at 7 p.m. March 20, but the Loons have an international friendly planned with Irish club St. Patrick’s Athletic at same time in St. Paul. And a handful of Loons players will be away for international duty at that time. … MNUFC2 winger Loic Mesanvi of Lakeville signed a short-term loan to join MNUFC on Saturday. Mesanvi, who played 13 minutes in the season opener, has now exhausted both MLS call-ups this season. The 20-year-old can still be called up for two non-MLS competitions. … MNUFC is still working with Spanish club Villarreal to determine first round pick Hugo Bacharach’s training compensation. The center back has signed a contract with the MLS club, but it has yet to be announced.

There was a time early in his career when Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards would seemingly talk about his NBA All-Defensive Team aspirations on a weekly basis.

Perhaps the goals have gotten higher since then — he’s a strong candidate to earn All-NBA honors this season and may well be an MVP candidate in coming years. But his play over the final 15 minutes of Minnesota’s 110-101 win over the Grizzlies on Wednesday was yet another reminder that those all-defense abilities are very much still present.

Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr. had torched a number of players the Wolves threw at him, including defensive ace Jaden McDaniels. In the third frame, Edwards asked Wolves coach Chris Finch for the assignment. A few minutes later, Finch granted the request. And that was about it for Jackson’s success that night. Edwards stifled the all-star, effectively cutting off Memphis’ source of offense and lifting the Wolves to victory.

“He took the Jackson matchup and shut his water off and turned the game around on both ends,” Finch said. “(Jackson is) a heckuva player, but we had to get up underneath him, and Ant was excellent at that.”

Minnesota has several strong perimeter defenders. McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are the first ones that come to mind. Their excellence on that end almost seems to overshadow Edwards’ on-ball abilities at times. But the all-star guard’s physicality sometimes creates problems for even the game’s best scorers that they simply cannot solve.

Finch noted Edwards “for sure is our most physical on-ball defender.”

Edwards feels playing football as a kid helped him with that.

“You gotta initiate the contact, be the first one to hit, and after that it’s a fight,” Edwards said. “We’re in the ring.”

And in that analogy, Edwards usually has the arm the referee raises at the end of the bout.

Players like McDaniels and Alexander-Walker use their length to make life difficult for opposing scorers. But speed and craft can at least help the best offensive players adjust to that. There isn’t much you can do when the defender in front of you makes every inch of the floor a chore to earn. When he is fully turned up, Edwards makes it nearly impossible for players to get to the spots from where they most like to shoot.

When Edwards puts on the clamps, the odds of him stealing the ball feel just as likely as his opponent scoring.

“It’s irritating. So I know how it feels, vice versa,” Edwards said of physical defense. “It’s definitely irritating because I don’t like it when people do it to me. So I know people won’t like it from me.”

It takes a certain specimen to be able to plant themselves that firmly in an offensive player’s space without fear of getting blown by off the bounce.

Edwards could think of two other players capable of such a style: Houston’s Dillon Brooks and Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort.

Those are perennial All-Defensive Team players. So why isn’t Edwards in that same conversation? There are examples of other two-way standouts grabbing all-defense selections in recent years, such as the Clippers’ Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and Miami’s Jimmy Butler.

“I think people gotta watch more Minnesota Timberwolves games, as far as whoever the (heck) the voters are. They just gotta watch the games because this is not my first time doing this,” Edwards said. “I have nights like this all the time where somebody gets hot, their best player gets hot and I go shut ‘em down the rest of the game. Nobody sees it but (local media). I think that goes into my votes of All-Defensive Team. But nobody sees it. Only y’all see it. I think they gotta watch more games. I think that’s the outcome.”

Perhaps there’s some truth to that. Minnesota doesn’t play a ton of nationally televised games. But there are also only 10 spots for All-Defensive honorees, and these days — where there are more data points to judge that end of the floor than ever before — those spots tend to be reserved for the players who specialize on the defensive side of the ball.

Edwards may very well be Minnesota’s best on-ball defender. But he’s asked to guard the other team’s best player much less often than McDaniels or Alexander-Walker. At some point, quantity has to outweigh quality.

Estimated Defensive Plus-Minus — a number put out by dunksandthrees.com — best correlates defensive excellence with what the eye test often suggests. And Edwards is graded quite favorably, slotted in the 88th percentile among players.

McDaniels is in the 96th percentile, and Alexander-Walker is in the 98th percentile, ranked 10th overall.

So while Edwards is acknowledged as a very good defender, it would be difficult to justify him as one of the league’s best 10. Perhaps that argument would be easier if the number of possessions where he guarded the other team’s best player increased.

Currently, he’s often just doing it when the game is in the balance. Edwards noted he would like more opportunities to do so, particularly down the stretch run of the season.

“I feel like I’m in my best shape now,” Edwards said.

But that’s rarely a responsibility bestowed upon the team’s best offensive player. The Wolves need Edwards to score and create. And if they really need him to deliver stops late, they’ll ask him to do so then. Finch doesn’t sound inclined to change the current approach.

“We have a lot of guys who can really guard on the ball, so it ends up being kind of situational,” Finch said. “I’m not going to start the game, probably, with that matchup (of Edwards on the best player), just because of the risk of foul trouble, putting him in that, which is harm’s way. So it’s really kind of game to game.”

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Two people were killed in a small plane crash Saturday morning in Afton.

Several neighbors near the 15000 block of Afton Hills Boulevard South called 911 shortly before 9:45 a.m. after hearing what they said sounded like a small explosion. When emergency crews arrived, they found a fully engulfed plane that had crashed near a home’s attached garage, according to the Washington County sheriff’s office.

Firefighters extinguished the fire and two bodies were located — an 85-year-old man from White Bear Lake and 68-year-old man from Baytown Township, the sheriff’s office said.

Neighbor Bill McCallum was walking his dog nearby when he heard a high-pitched whine.

“As I looked up I saw it it start to fall,” McCallum said of the plane, adding that it appeared to be falling almost straight down and “sort of spiraling.”

“It was way too close to the ground to be doing that maneuver,” he said.

The plane appeared appeared to pull out of the fall before it went out McCallum’s sightline. He then heard what “sounded like a big impact.”

The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

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For the first time since September, Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus will have a separate defensive coordinator on his staff.

The Bears announced Saturday that they hired Buffalo Bills assistant head coach and defensive line coach Eric Washington to be their new DC. Washington previously coached with the Bears from 2008-10 under Lovie Smith and served as the defensive line coach in 2010 with defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, an Eberflus mentor.

Washington coached the Bills defensive line since 2020 and was promoted to senior defensive assistant in 2022 and assistant head coach in 2023. He has two years of defensive coordinator experience with the Carolina Panthers in 2018-19 under Ron Rivera. Before that, he coached the Panthers defensive line for seven seasons.

The Bills defense ranked in the top 10 in multiple categories in 2023, including total yards and passing yards allowed per game, sack rate, interception rate and points allowed per game.

Washington is considered a strong teacher and leader who is detailed in his focus on fundamentals and will be able to help the coaching staff schematically, a source said.

“He is a great communicator with elite leadership skills and he will enhance our current defensive staff,” Eberflus said in a statement Saturday. “His track record speaks for itself with coordinator experience as well as expertise in the area of defensive line.”

Eberflus did not fill the defensive coordinator position in September when Alan Williams resigned for what sources told the Tribune was conduct-related reasons, though Eberflus did add senior defensive analyst Phil Snow to help scout opponents. Eberflus took over play calling, and with the help of the addition of defensive end Montez Sweat, helped the defense turn around from a rough start.

Eberflus said this month that he still was determining whether he would continue to call plays after bringing in a coordinator, but NFL Network reported Saturday that the expectation is Eberflus will remain in that role.

“It’s something I’ve stated I love to do,” Eberflus said this month. “But as we talk to these candidates, we’re going to keep everything open right now.”

Washington will help ease the load for Eberflus, who noted during the season he was working later nights to fill both roles. Eberflus said he was looking for a coordinator with high character who was a strong motivator. He wanted someone who could lead the defensive room while Eberflus addresses other areas of the team.

“My family and I are beyond excited to be returning to the Chicago Bears,” Washington said in a statement. “It is humbling to have the opportunity to contribute to one of the most esteemed sports organizations in the world.”

While the Bears fired five offensive coaches — including coordinator Luke Getsy — when their 7-10 season ended, Eberflus opted to keep the defensive staff intact. Washington joins a group that includes cornerbacks coach/defensive passing game coordinator Jon Hoke, defensive line coach Travis Smith, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi and safeties coach Andre Curtis.

The Bears finished 12th with 324.2 yards allowed per game and had the top-ranked rushing defense, allowing just 86.4 yards per game on the ground. They also finished with a league-best 3.57% interception rate after totaling 22 interceptions to go with six fumble-recovery takeaways.

Their passing defense, ranked 25th with 237.8 yards allowed per game, and their league-worst 4.86% sack rate need improvement.

Washington joins what the Bears hope is an ascending group. He played tight end at Grambling State and also coached defensive line at Northwestern (2004-07) and Ohio (2001-03).

The Bears reportedly interviewed at least three other coaches to join their defensive staff: former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry, Tennessee Titans assistant head coach/defensive line Terrell Williams and Titans defensive pass game coordinator Chris Harris.

Washington will be the Bears’ third major hire since the season ended. They have announced the