Nobody thought it was possible. The Chicago Bears have existed for over a century. In that time, they had never fired a head coach during a season. It technically happened only when George Halas had to leave to serve in World War II. Somehow, Matt Eberflus found a way to break that tradition. His latest blunder in the loss to Detroit on Thanksgiving was the final straw. It was the fourth time in two months that he’d cost the Bears a win in a tight game due to mishandling the final seconds.
A coach can only cost his team so many times before something must be done. What made it far more concerning was the situation in the locker room. It felt more and more like the players were losing their patience with Eberflus as the mistakes mounted. The fact he tried shifting blame onto them at times only made it worse. According to Adam Hoge of CHGO, the frustration in the locker room was reaching a fever pitch. If something wasn’t done, they risk outright mutiny.
I know Matt Eberflus said “the operation has been normal” since yesterday’s game ended, but it hardly feels that way.
Trust me, the frustration level with the head coach inside Halas Hall is HIGH. And while there remains significant doubt that George McCaskey will allow an in-season head coaching change, I’m not sure a final decision has been made.
The real deadline on this is Monday when players get back in the building. You saw how the Shane Waldron thing was handled. It wasn’t clean and it took almost 48 hours. But a change was eventually made and it led to instant improvement.
When a head coach loses a locker room, it is almost impossible to get it back. While there is some debate on when this happened for Eberflus, most will probably agree the fuse was lit during the Hail Mary game in Washington. Not only did the head coach call soft coverages on defense to allow the Commanders a chance to get in range, but he also failed to call timeout when it was clear Tyrique Stevenson wasn’t paying attention to the final play. Hard feelings about that loss lingered for weeks, leading to blowouts in Arizona and against New England.
Despite everything, the Chicago Bears still gave Eberflus more chances to turn things around. They fought Green Bay and Minnesota to close games and had chances to win both. They were rewarded with a blocked field goal brought on by clock mismanagement and a collapse by the defense in overtime. That comedy of errors at the end of the Detroit game was the straw that broke the camel’s back. If Eberflus hadn’t been fired, the locker room may have devolved into infighting similar to what happened under Marc Trestman in 2014.
