There isn’t much else to say at this point. Matt Eberflus has made the Chicago Bears competitive again. Congratulations. That merely proves he’s still a good defensive coordinator. There is one problem. That isn’t his only job title. His job is head coach, and that carries far bigger responsibilities. He is the one who is supposed to get the most out of his players in all three phases. Once again, in another winnable game, he failed spectacularly. Most head coaches will have a 4th quarter collapse maybe once a season. Eberflus has now had three in the past two months.
Chicago saw a 17-7 lead in the 4th quarter fizzle away as the Cleveland Browns rallied to win 20-17. This team keeps finding new ways to bring its fans pain. Eberflus may still have his defenders out there. The problem is three stats have emerged from this loss that can all be traced back to the head coach. Stats that should be damning for his time on the headset.
Matt Eberflus can’t hide from these insane stats.
It seems like the Bears make history in brutal ways every week this year. Yet this one might sting the most. They smothered Joe Flacco for most of the game, collecting sacks and interceptions. Yet they still lost. How? The offense didn’t do its job. Here’s some information people need to see. The Bears’ defense has had 14 takeaways in the past four games. Here is what happened following 13 of those takeaways from the offense. The other was returned for a touchdown by Tremaine Edmunds.
- Punt
- Fumble
- Field goal
- Punt
- Punt
- Field Goal
- Fumble
- Field Goal
- Turnover on downs
- Touchdown
- End of Game
- Touchdown
- Turnover on downs
Think about that. Of the 13 opportunities the Bears offense got, they scored on only five of them. The rest ended in punts or turnovers the other way. They scored a total of 23 points off 13 takeaways. Completely inexcusable. Blame for that falls directly at the feet of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, whom Eberflus hired.
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Defense allowed 212 yards passing in the 4th quarter.
Seriously. Joe Flacco, who spent more than half of the season on his couch, put up more passing yards in one quarter than Justin Fields did the entire game. If that doesn’t sum up the Bears’ ineptitude, nothing will. It was inexplicable how many coverage busts the defense seemed to have. Matt Eberflus was calling for Justin Jones, a defensive tackle, to drop into coverage during that sequence. There was endless amounts of proof that the head coach tried to sit on the lead and play clockball. Cleveland stayed aggressive and made him pay for it.
8-22 in his first 30 games
This is the one that matters the most. Eberflus has eight wins in his first 30 games. That is a .266 winning percentage, which is the worst in franchise history. People will try to make excuses about how the Bears haven’t been talented enough. They’re rebuilding. The fact is Eberflus’ team has now played in 15 games that were decided by one score. They are 3-12 in those games. Four of those losses came via a 4th quarter collapse. Results like that fall at the feet of the head coach. It is time to face facts. Eberflus is a loser. He finds a way to lose. Good coaches don’t do that.
