The worst part of the Chicago Bears’ absolute tomfoolery at the end of their Thanksgiving loss might be that Matt Eberflus said afterward he liked what they did.
No matter the context, telling a fanbase that what everyone saw at the end of the Bears’ horrific final 30 seconds against the Detroit Lions actually wasn’t that bad was going to turn out poorly. And it did, with Eberflus being fired on Friday.
For anyone who missed it on the holiday, the Bears trailed 23-20 in the final minute. Caleb Williams was sacked just before 30 seconds remained in the game. And the clock kept ticking. The Bears had a timeout but didn’t call it. Williams looked like a confused rookie. Eberflus didn’t throw him a life preserver. The clock ticked down until six seconds, and when the ball was finally snapped Williams’ incomplete pass downfield was the final play of the game.
“I like what we did there,” Eberflus said after the game as part of his explanation.
The Bears had never fired a coach during a season before, a fact they made sure everyone was aware of on multiple occasions. They had to break that weird tradition for Eberflus, and it wasn’t just the Thanksgiving fiasco that led to it.
Matt Eberflus cost the Bears in close games
Part of a coach’s job is what he says after a loss. It’s not a big part of the job, but you also can’t tell a devoted fanbase that your mistakes were actually totally fine.
When the Washington Commanders beat the Bears on a Hail Mary, picking up an easy 13 yards on the second-to-last play when the Bears played way back to give Jayden Daniels a shot to throw it to the end zone, Eberflus said he wasn’t concerned about that 13-yard play. Meanwhile, Commanders coach Dan Quinn said the Commanders couldn’t have completed the Hail Mary without it.
In a loss to the Green Bay Packers, a last-second field goal was blocked. Eberflus said the team “felt good” about not trying to move the ball closer for kicker Cairo Santos, though Packers players said afterward they knew Santos kicked a low trajectory on longer kicks.
Then came the Lions end-of-game situation. If you have said you’ve never seen something like that before, you are right. OptaSTATS said that over the past 30 NFL seasons, in 1,501 instances, there was only one team that lost by three or fewer points and run a play inside the opponents’ 30 on their final drive, but had the clock expire without trying a field goal or using all their timeouts. That was the Bears on Thursday.
Eberflus had the worst record among all 221 coaches in NFL history with 20 or more games decided by seven or fewer points, according to Associated Press’ Josh Dubow. Eberflus was 5-17 in those close games. It can’t be chalked up to bad luck, either.
The Bears aren’t exactly a clean organization either. They had Eberflus address the media on Friday and then fired him a couple hours later. That’s a really unprofessional look.
The entire franchise needs a cleansing. Maybe that started Friday.
How can the Bears change things?
The Bears haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1985. They’ve never had a 4,000-yard passer. They haven’t won a playoff game since January of 2011.
And they’ve also never had a quarterback prospect quite like Caleb Williams.
The Bears firing a coach in midseason was a sign that they know holding onto old axioms has been holding them back. Chicago has been stuck in the past in many ways. The Bears need to modernize their operation to maximize Williams. They already wasted a season with him, giving defensive-minded head coach Eberflus one season too long after he finished last season on a high note.
Lost in the commotion over Eberflus’ end-of-game mismanagement was that Williams played a very good second half against Detroit, almost leading a wild comeback win. He has had ups and downs as a rookie, but a lot of that can be attributed to coaching. The Bears offense has looked better since they fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron three weeks ago. Maybe it will look even better with Eberflus gone too. The Bears as a whole can’t help but be more organized at the end of games from here on out.
The Bears have tried it all when it comes to head-coaching hires, so who knows what direction they’ll go in this time. But it has to be done with Williams’ development in mind. They can’t afford to blow a great prospect like Williams.
Whatever the Bears decide to do, they can look at their long history first. Then do the opposite.