The day after every road game, Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus speaks with reporters on video conference. Usually, it takes place at 10:45 in the morning.
This week’s schedule, sent out a week ago, called for a 9 a.m. news conference.
This wasn’t going to be a normal day-after-game Zoom. Nothing has been normal about the six-game losing streak, and certainly not the way the Bears lost in Detroit.
Reporters waited for the link, one that is usually sent out well before Eberflus is scheduled to speak. Had chairman George McCaskey, president/CEO Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles decided on Eberflus’ future? Would Eberflus speak? Did they need more time?
At 9:02 a.m., the link was sent out, and Eberflus began with his usual opening statement, reviewing what he saw when he watched the film.
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Then the questions began, with an obvious focus on Eberflus’ future.
“I’m just going to be working on finishing up this game, doing a good job of evaluating that, our after-action report, as we always do, and then I’ll be working in to San Francisco,” Eberflus said. “Again, those are conversations we’ll have and again I’m confident that I’ll be working on San Francisco and getting ready for that game.”
Eberflus said he met with Warren and Poles as he always does postgame and that he would talk with them later Friday afternoon. As of this writing, he’s still the head coach, and the Bears’ players have the weekend off, then it’s on to the 49ers. Eberflus described Friday as a “normal operation.”
Fishbain: We’ve been here before, Jahnsy. Remember 2020, when we waited several days to find out if Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy would return? Shoot, at the end of last season, we didn’t get clarity for some time. And then you can even go back a few weeks to when the Shane Waldron firing came Tuesday morning. Look, the team doesn’t owe us anything as they sort through things, but after what happened Thursday in Detroit, to sit there and wait to hear from the head coach, and then for Eberflus to just go full business as usual, it’s just odd. It’s, well, very Bears, and we don’t know if he’ll still be the coach by the time folks read this! What’s your take on how the morning unfolded?
Jahns: This starts and ends with chairman George McCaskey. He’s the one who prefers not to fire head coaches during the season. If Marc Trestman could survive the entirety of his tumultuous 2014 season — which included his offensive coordinator making a tearful apology to his team after being revealed as an anonymous source criticizing Jay Cutler in a national report — are we really surprised that Eberflus wasn’t fired after what happened in Detroit on Thanksgiving? I’m not. Maybe there’s a scenario where Eberflus is fired later on Friday or even on Saturday. The Lions fired Matt Patricia on a Saturday after an awful loss on Thanksgiving in 2020. But as I wrote Thursday night, McCaskey will have to be convinced to do that by Warren and Poles.
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Fishbain: Trestman lost 51-23, had a bye week, then lost 55-14 to the Packers and still kept his job! An incredible feat. It shows you anything can happen. We can certainly discuss the logistical merits of letting Eberflus go during the season. Who’s your interim head coach? Is defensive coordinator Eric Washington going to take over and call plays? Would he hand off play calling to linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi? I know fans want Thomas Brown to get an extended interview, but shouldn’t the Bears keep him in the role focused on Caleb Williams and play calling? We all know what’s coming at some point, so maybe the Bears’ brass is trying to sort through the pros and cons of doing it now. The Bears have had so many publicized team meetings this season. What’s another set of meetings and tough, long conversations to prolong this?
Jahns: The Bears have to think about what’s best for Williams. It’s apparent that something is working with Brown. It’s best to keep Brown in that role for now. Getting two promotions in one season feels unlikely for Brown if Eberflus is fired. So it would make sense to promote special teams coordinator Richard Hightower or Washington. But Poles and Warren also have to think about what’s best for the entire team. Is the best move a new voice for the entire team? Can McCaskey be convinced of that? You could feel the frustration and bewilderment in the locker room Thursday night in Detroit. It was in the players’ body language and in the words they said — and also didn’t say — when asked about Eberflus and his messaging. Do you think Eberflus has lost the locker room?
A wild end to this one. #CHIvsDET pic.twitter.com/zwR7g1Efv9
— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2024
Fishbain: Maybe with some veterans, but it’s still hard to know. If you want to go glass half full, they did go toe to toe with the Super Bowl favorites after halftime. The offense played great. The defense improved. Then again, it’s the coach’s decisions that are leading to these losses. Certainly, if players went to Warren and Poles and said, “It’s done,” that should make it an easier decision. Or maybe players are resigned to what’s going to happen in six weeks and are fine playing out the string. If Eberflus’ coaching was hindering Williams’ development, or if the players were out on him, those would be fair reasons to move on before Week 18. We’ve seen plenty of coaches keep their jobs through a season when the performance on the field doesn’t warrant it. If Eberflus is coaching against the 49ers, and the rest of the season, what could it be like in the building?
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Jahns: The NFC North is the best division in the NFL. The Bears are 0-3 against their rivals, but they’ve lost those games by a total of seven points. So they’re close, right? The numbers suggest they are, and it does feel that way when you’re watching Williams make game-changing plays against them. But at the same time, it feels like the Bears are still far off from their rivals. They’re close, just not close enough to beat them. Matt LaFleur, Dan Campbell and Kevin O’Connell can all be considered among the best coaches in the league right now. The same isn’t true for Eberflus. Not with his 14-32 records. Something that receiver Keenan Allen said Thursday night has stuck with me: “I feel like we did enough as players to win the game.” What does that tell you about Eberflus? McCaskey has to think about that immediately. He can’t wait until the end of the season. It can still get worse.
(Photo: Lon Horwedel / Imagn Images)
