The Chicago Bears have done terrific work improving their roster over the past two years. GM Ryan Poles has assembled a core of talent with a good chance of finally getting this team back into the playoff picture. Montez Sweat, Jaylon Johnson, Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, D.J. Moore, and Keenan Allen make up a veteran group with loads of proven production. They are joined by a youth infusion headlined by Darnell Wright, Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, Tyrique Stevenson, and now Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze.
If this group plays up to its full potential moving forward, the Bears can put the NFC on notice that they are back. However, one name might be getting overlooked. Kirk Herbstreit played college football at Ohio State and has covered the game for several years as a top broadcaster. He has a strong sense of whether or not teams are in good hands. He explained on the Pat McAfee Show that one person constantly disrespected by the wider NFL community is head coach Matt Eberflus.
People aren’t accounting for his clear impact on that locker room.
Eberflus showed some critical traits for the Chicago Bears last year.
Don’t forget the team got off to a miserable start in 2023. They lost four of their first five games, three coming in blowout fashion. It would’ve been easy for the season to spiral completely out of control. Yet, Eberflus never wavered in his approach or belief that things would improve. If players kept working and playing hard, the wins would come. He helped things along by taking over play calling on defense. As a result, the Bears went 6-6 the rest of the way. It would’ve been 8-4 if not for a pair of painful 4th quarter collapses against Detroit and Cleveland.
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Herbstreit was probably one of the few people not surprised when the Chicago Bears chose to keep Eberflus for another year. In his mind, the team is trending in the right direction because of the man’s steadfast coaching. Now, the roster is finally in a place where it can challenge some of the better teams in the league. The team philosophy is established. Everybody is bought in. It’s time to go play the games. Bears fans might be reluctant to trust Eberflus, but guys who know football clearly like him.
Continuity will lead to stability. Eberflus has a job as long as he wants. The man has a beard. FACT.
The secret weapon is going to be Kyler Gordon.
I agree – Eberflus seems pretty solid.
When I look at successful franchises, ones that are trending upwards and downwards, and look at coaching staffs, the ones that trend positively vs. negatively, are the ones with larger staffs. This is simply a numbers (measurable) aspect. Disregarding quality (how good, effective or results driven) the coaches are, simply having larger staffs gives a team greater continuity and ability to sustain inevitable losses (coaches fired or poached elsewhere). In 2023, The defensive side of the Bears lost Alan Williams, but because Eberflus had been a defensive coordinator, he was able to seamlessly take ever while hiring Phil Snow, and… Read more »
Let us hope and expect the Bears learned from the three losses that they should have won now that Fields is gone as well.