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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer
Time ran out Thursday night, not only on another avoidable Bears defeat, but also on Matt Eberflus’ coaching tenure in Chicago.
Eberflus was fired Friday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, hours after Eberflus held a news conference on Zoom and said he was confident he would be coaching the Bears against the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 8.
The final straw was a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions punctuated by Eberflus not calling timeout with 32 seconds remaining and the Bears facing a third-and-26 at the Lions’ 41. After being sacked, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams tried to rush his teammates to the line of scrimmage. But the slow-developing play, a long pass attempt to Rome Odunze, allowed time to run out before Cairo Santos had a shot to tie it with a 58-yard field goal attempt.
In the Bears’ locker room, there seemed to be more resignation than indignation after coming up with another way to lose. There was the tipped 52-yard Hail Mary against the Washington Commanders, when cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was taunting fans while receivers were running routes; the blocked field goal attempt against the Green Bay Packers; and the furious fourth-quarter rally against the Minnesota Vikings only for Chicago to lose in overtime.
Thursday marked the Bears’ sixth straight loss and brought Eberflus’ record to 14-32, including 5-19 in one-score games. That is the worst record of any coach with at least 20 one-score games in NFL history.
“We did enough as players to win this game,” Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen said Thursday.
If there has been one bright spot, it has been the play of Williams, who threw three touchdown passes Sunday to make it five over the past two weeks. Williams has thrown 232 passes without an interception, the longest streak for a rookie in NFL history.
Continuing to develop Williams will be the primary objective for the new coach.
Here are some of the key questions facing an organization that had hoped to be challenging for a playoff spot, rather than talking about a coaching search with a 4-8 record.
What was Eberflus’ fatal flaw?
It was a combination. Developing Williams into a franchise quarterback was the priority, so hiring and firing Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator in-season didn’t help. And the fact the previous OC, Luke Getsy, was fired by the Bears in January and by the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 4 did not speak well of Eberflus’ ability to pick coaches. In fact, he fired eight of them during his two-plus seasons.
Also, the Bears were terrible in close games, and several coaching decisions stood out.
Before the Hail Mary that cost the Bears in Week 8, Eberflus allowed Washington to complete a 13-yard pass to get in position for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels — who was dealing with a rib injury — to complete the pass that traveled 52.9 air yards.
After the loss, Eberflus said the penultimate play “really doesn’t matter” because “it’s always going to come down to [defending] the last play.”
Several players disagreed — publicly.
Against Green Bay, Eberflus defended his choice to not run one final play to get Santos closer before attempting a 48-yard game-winning field goal that was blocked. Williams got the offense to the Packers’ 28-yard line, and Eberflus let the clock run from 30 seconds down to 3 before calling a timeout and sending the kicking unit onto the field.
Because the wind was not a factor in Week 11, Eberflus said he felt comfortable with Santos’ range and did not want to risk fumbling while trying to pick up a few more yards.
And in Detroit, Eberflus opted not to call a timeout with the Bears in position to kick a game-tying field goal or take the lead outright in the final moments of a second-half comeback. The Bears coach defended his game management, saying it was “handled the right way.”
And these blunders weren’t limited to the 2024 season.
Blown leads and losing-one score games defined the Bears in 2023 after they squandered double-digit leads in losses to Denver, Detroit and Cleveland. Chicago’s three losses after leading by 10-plus points in the fourth quarter were tied for the most such losses in a season in NFL history. — Courtney Cronin
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RC: Eberflus’ handling of Bears’ loss to Lions a ‘fireable finish’
Ryan Clark explains why Matt Eberflus’ mismanagement of the clock against the Lions justifies his firing as Bears head coach.
How likely is it the next coach will be offensive-minded in order to help Williams’ development?
It’s likely.
If Williams continues to show progress under interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, it’s hard to envision Brown not being interviewed to become Chicago’s next head coach. Continuity is important when developing a young quarterback.
If Williams is comfortable with Brown and believes he’s the best choice, it will be interesting to see the impact of that endorsement.
Some of the most notable candidates expected to interview for head coaching opportunities this cycle are offensive coordinators, with the Detroit Lions’ Ben Johnson headlining the group.
A talent like Williams should draw the interest of the top offensive coaches. That could be Johnson, or the Buffalo Bills’ Joe Brady or a handful of other young up-and-coming offensive coaches who have demonstrated an ability to build offenses with strong quarterback play, including Liam Coen with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Zac Robinson with the Atlanta Falcons and Drew Petzing with the Arizona Cardinals. — Cronin
Who will have input into the decision on the next coach, and who makes the final call?
When Eberflus was hired in January of 2022, the Bears team president was Ted Phillips. A year later, Kevin Warren replaced the retiring Phillips as team president. Warren was the Big Ten commissioner before he joined the Bears.
In the last two years, Warren has made many changes to the Bears business office and has spearheaded the currently stalled effort to build a new stadium. He’s been much more public-facing than Phillips had been in the same role, and when Warren was hired, the Bears reporting structure changed. Poles began reporting to Warren, instead of chairman George McCaskey, but the Bears were clear to say Poles retained final say on football decisions.
In 2022, the Bears had a five-person search committee for general manager and head coach, that included McCaskey, Phillips, vice president of player engagement Lamar Campbell, senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Tanesha Wade and Bill Polian, who spent the last 13 years of his career as the Colts GM before retiring in 2009.
Polian was the only non-Bears staffer involved in the interview process of the candidates then. In 2015, when the Bears hired Ryan Pace and John Fox, they used former general manager Ernie Accorsi to help with the process. In 2018, after Fox was fired, Pace led the interview process that landed Matt Nagy as head coach, and Phillips and McCaskey accompanied Pace in interviews.
The search committee will likely take the same shape as 2022, but this time with Warren in place of Phillips. Warren has had an active role in football side meetings in his two years in Chicago, and will likely be an influential voice in the decision. — Kalyn Kahler
What’s the status of GM Ryan Poles
Last January, Poles said “it was my call” to retain Eberflus, citing stability as a main reason, but he said he gathered input from Warren and McCaskey to make the decision.
The unknown factor going into this hiring process is Poles. Warren didn’t hire Poles. Poles had the final say on hiring Eberflus in 2022 and was involved in the hiring of the two failed offensive coordinators — Luke Getsy and Shane Waldron. The Bears search committee hired Poles in 2022, and did the first round interview of all the head coaching candidates, but Poles handled the second round interviews for head coach by himself.
If Poles is retained, his opinion will factor into the head coach decision, and the Bears may present it like he’s the main decision-maker. But there’s a perception around the league that Warren is the one making the calls. When Warren worked in Minnesota as the Vikings COO, he did not have the same structure as in Chicago. There, Warren was in charge of all business operations, while then-general manager Rick Spielman handled all football operations.
After Eberflus was retained last year, Warren said he valued patience and wanted to stay the course, and cited his experience with the Rams and Dick Vermeil as proof of that patience paying off. Warren didn’t choose Eberflus or Poles, and staying the course didn’t pay off, so Warren is going to have to rethink what he’s looking for in a football leader. — Kahler
Where should the Bears put their focus in the 2025 draft?
Their roster has several clear-cut needs. First among those is in the trenches. On offense, the entire line outside of right tackle Darnell Wright could be replaced. This is where Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. comes into play, if he’s available. In a weak offensive tackle class, Banks is the only player with a top-10 grade. ESPN’s Football Power Index projects the Bears to pick No. 10 overall in the draft.
Defensively, Chicago could build out its line with Michigan’s Mason Graham as a 3-technique tackle. This is also an extremely strong edge-rusher class with Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Georgia’s Mykel Williams options in the Bears’ range. Given these choices, protecting Williams with Banks Jr. would be the ideal option. — Matt Miller