Some people are already writing off Matt Eberflus as the Chicago Bears head coach. They feel too many bad things have happened since he took over to justify keeping him around for a third season. That decision remains in the hands of team president Kevin Warren and GM Ryan Poles. Both have offered public support of Eberflus at various points this season. It also helps that Eberflus has gone 5-4 in his last nine games, including three of the last four. Amidst that unexpected surge is the play of the Bears defense.
They allowed 13 or fewer points in those three victories over the past month. The unit stops the run, gets to the quarterback, and forces takeaways in bunches. Much of the credit for that must go to Eberflus himself. He’s been calling the defensive plays since the end of September. His influence is hard to ignore. Ironically, it might be a game where the Bears didn’t even play that earned him even more respect.
On Saturday night, the Detroit Lions faced the Denver Broncos. Chicago had just humbled their division rivals last week, holding them to 13 points. The Lions responded by posting 42 points on Denver’s defense. Jared Goff threw five touchdown passes. It was a clinic.
That game may put more shine on Matt Eberflus.
After all, he is the only one to date who held the Lions’ offense under 300 total yards in a game. He almost did it twice before that painful 4th quarter collapse in Detroit a few weeks ago. It remains evident that Eberflus is one of the best defensive coaches in the league. Presuming the Bears keep him stocked with good talent, the defense should remain among the NFL’s best for the foreseeable future. That is a big argument in favor of keeping him around. The game management is a big question mark, as is the status of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, but having one side of the ball situated by the head coach is always an advantage.
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It is something to keep in mind. Matt Eberflus has gotten results lately. Sure, it would’ve been nice to get those results in September, but it didn’t go down that way. The Bears are a young team. It can take some time to learn how to win. Eberflus needed to do some learning of his own. Contrary to popular myth, being a head coach in the NFL isn’t easy. Not everybody can master the job right out of the gate. Maybe it took some time for him to get comfortable.
One thing is for sure. The Lions did him a favor.
