Matt Eberflus may still have the confidence of the Chicago Bears brass, but that is not even remotely the case with fans. Following his ninth loss in ten one-score games on Sunday, he is 5-21 as head coach of this franchise. People have struggled to find a perspective on how truly bad this is. His winning percentage is currently .176. Abe Gibron, widely proclaimed the worst coach in Bears history, had one of .268. It has been not just bad in the context of Bears history. This is reaching all-time status in the entire NFL.
Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron added some ugly context with recent comparisons.
Mornhinweg and Palmer both had a winning percentage of .156. Palmer at least had the excuse of having to coach an expansion team in the Cleveland Browns. There are others with similar legacies. Rich Kotite in New York (.125). Leeman Bennett in Tampa Bay (.125). Hue Jackson in Cleveland (.088). These are not names Eberflus wants to be associated with. In addition, it’s worth noting one other thing. All five of those coaches were fired after their second seasons.
He still hasn’t reached the same amount of wins he had in 2022. There is a prime opportunity to do that on Thursday night against a bad Carolina Panthers team. If he can’t beat them? Well, that will sum up his entire tenure. Nothing has gone right. The development of Justin Fields floundered. His defense remains one of the worst in the NFL despite it being his area of expertise. Throw the endless losing on top of it, and there is no viable way to argue he deserves another year. Some coaches simply don’t have what it takes.
It would be the second time in less than a decade that the Bears will have fired their head coach after only two seasons. Marc Trestman was the first to meet that fate after a tumultuous run in 2013-2014. Matt Eberflus exhibits many of the same issues. He’s not a bad guy. Players don’t hate him. It is a simple fact that he is clearly outmatched whenever faced with more credible coaches around the league. This has been a case that haunts the Bears far too often over the years. They can’t let this continue for another year.
