From the information available, two things are clear. No significant changes are coming to the organizational structure for the Chicago Bears until the season is over. That means head coach Matt Eberflus has the remaining five games to state his case for another year. The same goes for quarterback Justin Fields. Courtney Cronin of ESPN did reveal one thing. It sounds like GM Ryan Poles isn’t going anywhere. He and team president Kevin Warren seem to be on the same page about what must happen moving forward, whatever that ends up being.
This is where things get interesting. Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune doesn’t lean into sources too often, but when he does, they’re usually accurate. He reached out to several contacts around the NFL, trying to gauge what is likely to happen with the embattled Bears’ head coach and quarterback. Surprisingly, they all seem convinced the path forward is obvious. If the organization wants to avoid controversies, then both Eberflus and Fields have to go.
The chatter within leagues circles is that it will be far more difficult for Poles to justify keeping Eberflus next month than it will be to dismiss him. And the popular sentiment is that the timing couldn’t be more optimal for the team to justify a coaching change on circumstances alone…
…“Let’s be real,” one league source said. “Given the Bears’ history, in my mind it’s highly important that they start 2024 with somebody who can successfully develop a quarterback. Anybody. … And if you’re the GM there, how could you turn down the rare opportunity to go do both at once? You choose the best quarterback in the draft class and link him up with one of the best offensive head coaching prospects of the moment.”…
The sentiment inside the league is that the Bears job — which, by the way, could be one of as many as 10 coaching vacancies in the league by wild-card weekend — would be far more attractive if it came with a clean slate at quarterback. Prospective candidates likely would feel far more eager to marry with a rookie than take on a time-sensitive developmental challenge with Fields, especially with no promise that a potential reset would provide anywhere near the same choices for the team that this draft cycle will.
While both have done some good things this year, it hasn’t been enough. Fields had two excellent games in October. The rest have ranged between bad and okay. Eberflus has helped the defense round into capable form. However, it still struggles with protecting leads in the 4th quarter. Not to mention, Eberflus has yet to beat a team with a winning record in his coaching tenure. Every time he runs into an opponent with a respectable quarterback, the games tend to get ugly.
A strong argument can be made that the Bears would have a winning record right now if it were not for those two. Matt Eberflus’ conservative coaching and Fields’ horrid 4th quarter turnover woes allowed at least two games to slip away. This isn’t a recent thing. It’s been a problem going back to last year. We mustn’t forget the only reason Eberflus took over the defense was because his defensive coordinator resigned under mysterious circumstances. Tyson Bagent also has the same number of wins this season as Fields does.
If the Bears want to maximize their chances of turning the corner, they have to start over at both spots.
