Matt Eberflus endured one of the worst games of his coaching career last Sunday. The Chicago Bears played poorly for three quarters despite having two weeks to prepare. Despite that, the team rallied in the 4th to make it a game. However, three brutal coaching decisions ended up costing them. First was the inexplicable decision to hand the ball off to Doug Kramer, a backup lineman, at the goal line, which was promptly fumbled. Then it was playing soft coverage on the play before the Hail Mary, gifting Washington 13 yards to get them in range. Last but not least, it was refusing to call a timeout despite clear evidence the Bears weren’t set in their responsibilities for defending the Hail Mary (i.e., Tyrique Stevenson).
Eberflus’ situational awareness was on full display, and it was ugly. This marks the fifth time he has lost a lead with under three minutes to play and the fourth where his defense allowed a touchdown. The ongoing confusion and sloppiness on offense aren’t helping his case either. Now that it appears the Bears finally have a quarterback with Caleb Williams, the calls for Eberflus’ job are getting louder. It probably won’t help his case that Ben Johnson, the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator and widely considered the best candidate going into 2025, wants the Bears job.
Albert Breer of the MMQB confirmed this on ESPN 1000 with Kap & J.Hood.
“He was definitely looking at the Chicago job last year. There were some people who felt that was the one he wanted. Obviously, it didn’t come open.”
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Matt Eberflus is running out of excuses.
This is year three. Anybody who follows the NFL knows head coaches should be winning football games by now. At 4-3, Eberflus has done that to a degree. However, there are some serious underlying concerns. The Bears have benefitted from a soft schedule to start the season. They are 0-2 against teams with winning records and 1-13 in Eberflus’ time as head coach. It doesn’t help that they are 3-17 on the road with zero road wins in Sunday games. Nobody disputes that the man can coach effort. The problem is it takes much more than that to be a successful head coach.
Johnson has been the offensive coordinator in Detroit for three years. They were 4th overall in 2022, 3rd overall last year, and are 1st in scoring this season. Jared Goff is playing the best football of his life. Pairing Johnson with Williams feels like such an obvious decision. His offensive expertise would almost certainly get things sorted out on that side of the ball, and he would also inherit a talented defense. His interest in Chicago is easy to understand. Matt Eberflus has ten games left to prevent that from happening.
