Matt

Eberflus

Eberflus becomes the first head coach in the Bears’ 100-plus year history to be fired mid-season. Less than two hours after trotting Eberflus out for a Friday press conference, the organization has decided to pull the plug after a staggering mid-season collapse. Thursday’s clock management fiasco was the final straw. The Bears’ defense showed steady improvement under Eberflus’ watch and currently ranks ninth in points allowed per game. Unfortunately, the team never figured out its offensive identity, ranking 20th or worse in yards per game in each of the last three seasons. The hiring and firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron in the same season was another indictment on Eberflus’ inability to get the right people in the building to propel the Bears in the right direction. Eberflus leaves with a 14-32 record while in the midst of a six-game losing streak. He was continually embarrassed in one-score games. Interim OC Thomas Brown will now take over as interim head coach for the remaining five weeks of the season as the team prepares for yet another head coaching search this offseason.

Firing Eberflus mid-season won’t turn around a season that has gone awry for the Bears since their bye week, but it’s a move that most feel could come at any time. Thursday’s clock management gaffe is just the latest in a number of indictments that have built against Eberflus’ coaching acumen over the years, and will be remembered as one of his more infamous moments when he is inevitably let go by the team. Firing Eberflus in mid-season would be more about sending a message than giving the team a tactical advantage over the final five weeks of the season, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if he remained with the team until season’s end.

It sure sounds like the upcoming evaluations that Eberflus is still conveniently “in the process” of as of his latest press briefing are going to be coaching-focused. Williams took nine sacks (9 sacks?) in Chicago’s Week 10 loss to the Patriots. Something has got to give. We’d be surprised if Shane Waldron saw more than another sunrise as Bears offensive play caller.

The Bears hired defensive coordinator Eric Washington earlier this offseason, but Washington won’t be handling play-calling duties to start the season. Eberflus has a defensive background and served as the Colts’ defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021. He and Washington will look to help build on a defense that ranked 20th in points allowed and 12th in yards allowed per game.

After extensive meetings with Bears brass, Eberflus will stay onboard for at least one more season while offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was fired. The Bears are likely to move on from Justin Fields and use the first overall draft pick on a quarterback. Eberflus, 10-24 over his two seasons at the helm, will be coaching for his job next season.

Things were bleak for Eberflus just over a month ago. NFL insider Josina Anderson reported Eberflus was “under evaluation” and that the Bears were interested in Commanders OC Eric Bieniemy. Since that report, the Bears are 3-1 with all three of their wins coming by double-digit points. They were a dropped Hail Mary by Darnell Mooney away from being undefeated since their bye. The late-season surge seemingly saved Eberflus’s job. With that situation squared away, the Bears’ front office will now turn their focus toward a decision at quarterback. Justin Fields has stepped up his play this year, but Chicago holds the No. 1 overall pick in a class with multiple quarterbacks worthy of the top selection.

Head coach Matt Eberflus is “under evaluation” with the Bears over the season’s final month, per Anderson. The team is looking into Bieniemy — among others — as a head coach candidate in 2024. Without a strong finish to the season, Eberflus is almost certainly out shortly after the regular season concludes. Eberflus is 7-22 as Chicago’s head coach since the start of the 2022 season. Bieniemy could be a tough get for the Bears if the Commanders move on from head coach Ron Rivera and offer Bieniemy the top spot.

Walker was in his second year as the team’s running backs coach. He’s overseen a backfield plagued by injuries through the season’s first half, including a knee injury to productive starter Khalil Herbert. The Bears backfield in Week 8 against the Chargers was a three-way committee split with D’Onta Foreman as the nominal lead back. The main takeaway here is that Matt Eberflus and the Bears — who fired defensive coordinator Alan Williams in September — are in complete disarray.

“This is a complete tear down,” Fitzgerald told The Athletic. “They sent away about $75 million in contracts this year, whether it was signings or trades or whatever it was. They just gutted the roster. You look at the types of players they brought in. It’s just low-cost, piece things together for a year.” Chicago has spent this offseason cleaning up the mess left by the previous regime, which made a host of baffling signings without much thought of the future. The 2022 season could be another frustrating one for sophomore QB Justin Fields. The Bears head into 2022 with one of the NFL’s worst wide receiver groups headlined by Darnell Mooney and Byron Pringle. It’s not all doom and gloom for the Bears, however. Fitzgerald said the team should have “one of the better salary cap positions in the league” in 2023. Fitzgerald added “it’s gonna suck this year” for Bears fans.

Breer is connecting dots here as Eberflus prepares to fill in the Bears coaching staff in the coming weeks. Getsy, a hot name in coaching circles, landed an interview with the Broncos for the team’s head coaching vacancy earlier this month. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero said this month that Getsy is “a valued member of Matt LaFleur’s staff who many regard as a future head coach.” As offensive coordinator at Mississippi State in 2018, Getsy coached one of the nation’s top rushing offenses. Getsy joined the Packers in 2014 as an offensive quality control coach and briefly served as the team’s wide receivers coach before becoming the pass game coordinator. It’s only a matter of time before Getsy lands an offensive coordinator position.