The Chicago Bears have never fired a head coach during a season. It’s been one of the consistent legacies of the McCaskey family. If they’re going to make a change, they wait until the season is over. Most would agree Marc Trestman came the closest in 2014, allowing his locker room to fall into dysfunction while getting clobbered by Green Bay and New England. However, Trestman managed to survive to the end of the year. That same courtesy may not be afforded to Matt Eberflus.
Rumblings have begun to surface that the embattled head coach is close to losing his job. NFL Notifications on Twitter was the first to drop the rumor on Tuesday.
That by itself isn’t much to go on. Then, it gained serious traction when longtime insider Peter King of NBC Sports went on 670 The Score with Parkins & Spiegel. He stated that if the Bears lost Thursday night in Washington, he would not be surprised if the team sent him packing.
Lastly came Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog. He’s proven to have strong sources inside the organization for the past few years. His assessment was the same. There is a strong undercurrent that Eberflus is in trouble if he can’t find a way to win.
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Matt Eberflus doesn’t have the protection Trestman did.
He has the same locker room issues and ongoing controversies. The difference is Trestman still performed reasonably well at his known expertise while also winning a couple of games. Eberflus has done neither. He’s lost 14 games in a row dating back to October of 2022. That is the longest streak in Bears history. If that weren’t bad enough, his defense ranks 31st in points allowed and 28th in total yards. They have two sacks in four games and only two takeaways. That is a bad look for somebody who is supposed to be a defensive expert.
Everything about the past year has shown a head coach in over his head. Matt Eberflus hasn’t been able to navigate the choppy waters of a rebuilding team. Losing was expected, yes. Not losing of this magnitude. Going an entire year without a win is inexcusable. One source informed SM that team president Kevin Warren is the one pushing for a change if the losing streak hits 15. That isn’t a surprise. He had no say in Eberflus’ hiring. It would be a strong message from him that things will be different going forward.
The Commanders are 2-2 this season. Their defense has 13 sacks this season, which isn’t a great sign for Justin Fields. Offensively, they’ve scored 30 points in two of their past three games. There are lots of matchup advantages in their favor, and the Bears are coming off a brutal 4th quarter collapse against Denver. It doesn’t look good for Eberflus.
