Bears Fire Matt Eberflus
After a disastrous coaching decision cost the Bears another winnable game against the Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving, team management finally acted firing head coach Matt Eberflus Friday morning. The former Colts defensive coordinator was hired in 2022 and has struggled in each of his three seasons at the helm in Chicago with a 14-22 record.
The Bears defense was very good under Eberflus in his three years in charge but the offense struggled badly shuffling through three coordinators in as many years. After Caleb Williams was drafted this season, a big effort was made to improve the unit and the results again came up well short of expectations leading to the firing of OC Shane Waldron a few weeks back.
By far the biggest issue that Eberflus had during his tenure, was horrible in-game coaching decisions and a consistent failure to prepare his team to play every week. In the 2024 season alone, at least four winnable games have been lost after questionable coaching decisions and the high-profile blunders have attracted a ton of negative fan and media attention.
Probably the more systematic failure has been the consistent sloppiness and unpreparedness that have plagued Chicago throughout the Eberflus era. The Bears constantly fell behind early in games and have had to dig themselves out of holes. The lack of preparedness is also demonstrated by crucial mistakes made by players in late game situations. All of it perfectly encapsulated in a 5-19 record in contests decided by seven points or less since 2022.
General manager Ryan Poles issued a statement on the firing Friday: “This morning, after meeting with [chairman George H. McCaskey] and [president and CEO Kevin Warren], we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the leadership of our football team and the head-coaching position, I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and dedication to our organization. We extend our gratitude for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his family the best moving forward.”
Thomas Brown continued getting promoted moving from interim offensive coordinator to interim head coach for the rest of the season. The Bears will begin yet another coaching search, a persistent challenge ever since Lovie Smith was fired in 2013. It’s also a question if Poles will be allowed to make that decision after the GM has also failed to put together a winning roster.
With an asset like Williams this hire is going to be very important or another opportunity could be wasted. Long-suffering Bears fans deserve a good coach hopefully they will finally get one.
