The Chicago Bears fired coach Matt Eberflus on Friday, one day after his disastrous game management cost the team a chance at taking the Detroit Lions to overtime. A new report suggests, however, that Eberflus had lost the locker room weeks before that.
Eberflus began to lose the team in the aftermath of the Bears’ Week 8 loss to the Washington Commanders, a game Chicago lost on an incredible Jayden Daniels Hail Mary as time expired. According to Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini of The Athletic, veteran discontent with Eberflus escalated after that game, partly because of the play before the Hail Mary. The play before the Hail Mary, Daniels was allowed to pick up 13 yards on a pass play to set up the Hail Mary attempt, a significant play that Eberflus publicly dismissed as a non-factor after the game. Eberflus also did not call timeout to set up his team for the Hail Mary attempt and calm emotions, a move veterans saw as a mistake.
The lack of accountability bothered players, and attempts from Eberflus to point the finger at himself in subsequent weeks did not feel genuine to them. Things came to a head again after the Detroit loss, where some veterans confronted Eberflus in the locker room about his decision not to call timeout in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, a team captain, was described by one teammate as having gone “crazy” in the locker room after the game.
“We felt as players it’s been too many instances where we fought our way back into games to lose because of bad time management and decision-making,” one unnamed Bears player told Jahns and Russini.
The story points to other issues, including the ill-fated hire of Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator. It is clear that by the time the Lions game ended, Eberflus had completely lost the locker room, leaving management with no choice but to make a change.
Eberflus made a lot of bad game management decisions. Coaching mistakes happen, but players want to see them used as learning experiences so they do not happen again. That did not happen with Eberflus, and the lack of accountability in some of these instances was just as concerning.
This is effectively a lost season for the Bears, who are 4-8 after Thursday’s loss. The team will now see what interim coach Thomas Brown can do over their final five games.
