GM Ryan Poles surprised many people when he selected Matt Eberflus as the Chicago Bears’ new head coach. For one, he was a defensive-minded guy. The team had a young quarterback, Justin Fields, who needed development. Entrusting that to somebody with zero background on that side of the ball felt like a risk. For another, Eberflus had zero previous head coaching experience. Poles passed over someone like Dan Quinn, who’d taken Atlanta to a Super Bowl, to hire the man.
When asked, the GM stated his motivation stemmed from his experience in 2008. The Bears signed him as an undrafted free agent and he got a taste of what the culture was like under then-head coach Lovie Smith. He sensed how formidable it was and how it strengthened the locker room. He felt Eberflus had a lot of similar philosophies based on his own experiences rising up the coaching ranks. Two men who would know about this are defensive coordinator Eric Washington and secondary coach Jon Hoke. They worked under Smith around that same time period. After experiencing Eberflus this summer, they both told Adam Jahns of The Athletic the same thing.
Under Smith and Marinelli, coaches pointed out loafs as the entire defense watched game film together. Marinelli controlled the clicker and went last. Hoke went first as the defensive backs coach. Safeties coach Gill Byrd was next. Linebackers coach Bob Babich went third.
“He’d say, ‘54 plus technique, 54 loaf, finish to the ball,’ in front of the entire defense,” Hoke said. “I would have to say, ‘33 good tackle or good technique, plus loaf.’ You just called out your loafs in front of everybody.”
Eberflus runs similar meetings, but it starts with what he tells the coaches.
“The first thing he’s gonna say is, ‘Let’s make sure we stay on top of the loafs. Let’s make sure we’re hustling to the ball,’” Hoke said.
Under Smith and Marinelli, the process was “vigilant and consistent.” The same is happening under Eberflus.
Anybody who has followed the team over the summer can sense it: the intensity, the energy, the camaraderie, and the relentless desire to win. All of those were prevalent throughout Smith’s tenure in Chicago. This is why he remains the only coach besides Mike Ditka, who has a winning record in the Super Bowl era. His primary issue was never getting the offense right. Part of this was not finding the right quarterback and part of it was never being able to settle the offensive coordinator job. Despite all of that, he still reached two NFC championships and a Super Bowl.
If Matt Eberflus is indeed similar to Smith, he should be able to get the Bears back onto a footing similar to the one they held over a decade ago. The team hovered between seven and 11 wins during that period. If Caleb Williams ends up becoming the good quarterback everybody believes he can be, we may finally see what would’ve happened if Smith had ever solved that issue. Namely, it probably would’ve resulted in a championship.
