Everybody knows the juicy details come out eventually when things go wrong. That has been true with the Chicago Bears for over a decade now. Nine games. That is how long Shane Waldron lasted as offensive coordinator before Matt Eberflus was forced to fire him. The offense scored 27 points in three games coming out of the bye week. Caleb Williams has regressed into a shell of what he was in early October. Something had to change. Eberflus wasn’t going to fire himself, so he did the only thing he could. That begs the obvious question.
How the hell did the Bears get here?
They championed their search process earlier this year, interviewing several candidates for the position. Waldron ended up getting the job. Eberflus said it was because they felt he was the best communicator and teacher. A rumor just popped up that this wasn’t the case at all. It appears the original plan was to hire Kliff Kingsbury for the position, but after meeting the former Arizona Cardinals head coach, Eberflus backed off. Why? You’ll never guess.
There is no way Matt Eberflus did that. Right?
Like many, I initially balked at the idea that this was true. Rumors pop up all the time, so I reached out to a source to see if there was any validity to it. I expected a firm decline. Instead, a one-word reply came back.
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“Yep.”
So, let’s get this straight. The Bears had plans to hire Kingsbury, who already had an established relationship with the quarterback they wanted to draft and a great reputation as an offensive mind. However, the head coach was so intimidated by his personality that he chose to pivot elsewhere, opting for the much more passive Waldron instead. Is the ego of Matt Eberflus really that fragile? Perhaps he sensed Kingsbury would be a threat to his job if the season didn’t go well, ironically setting himself up for failure in the process.
While Waldron bombed spectacularly, Kingsbury has Jayden Daniels on the fast track to Rookie of the Year in Washington. Say what you want about Mike Ditka. It wasn’t a secret Buddy Ryan was a loud personality with his own idea of how to run the team. Yet the two still managed to work together for four seasons, winning a championship in the process. Eberflus apparently didn’t have the mental fortitude to handle such a challenge, which, in hindsight, isn’t all that surprising.
