DETROIT (670 The Score) – Never in the 105-year history of the Chicago Bears has the franchise fired a head coach in the middle of a season.
Current Bears head coach Matt Eberflus may be destined to change that.
After his team’s latest stunning loss – a 23-20 setback to the NFC-leading Lions on Thursday in which the clock expired with the Bears holding one timeout in their pocket – it's becoming impossible to defend Eberflus in any way. He has lost 32 of 48 games in his tenure in Chicago and more significantly seems to have lost his team.
There appears to be no coming back from this latest debacle for Eberflus. It’s just a matter of whether the Bears finally decide to make an in-season firing or wait another 39 days for Black Monday in the NFL.
With the Bears trailing by three late in the game Thursday, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked to the Ford Field turf at the Lions’ 41-yard line with 32 seconds on the clock and Eberflus holding one timeout. The Bears’ next – and final – snap occurred with six seconds remaining, which left enough time for just one heave toward the end zone that fell incomplete as the clock expired.
Bears veteran receiver Keenan Allen, one of the most respected players in the team’s locker room, didn’t mince words when sharing his emotions after the game.
“I feel like we did enough as players to win the game,” Allen said.
Future Hall of Fame defensive end and current CBS analyst J.J. Watt was a bit more direct with his words.
“Literal coaching malpractice,” Watt tweeted.
Eberflus didn’t address the final sequence inside the Bears’ dejected locker room, though he stood by his approach when addressing reporters after the game. It represented a common theme with Eberflus, who has failed to take accountability for and also failed to understand his own coaching miscues after heartbreaking losses in the past.
“I think we handled it the right way,” Eberflus said, explaining he wanted the Bears to run a quicker play and pick up yardage over the middle of the field, then use his final timeout to set up a game-tying field-goal attempt.
“It didn’t work out the way we wanted to.”
Nothing seems to work out the way Eberflus wants.
In the Bears’ heartbreaking 18-15 loss to the Commanders on a last-second Hail Mary on Oct. 27, Eberflus directed his team to concede 13 free yards on the penultimate play of the game. That choice allowed Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels’ 52-yard game-winning touchdown pass to get to the goal line when his heave otherwise likely would’ve come up short. Eberflus stood by that decision as well as his call to rush only three defensive linemen and defend with seven in coverage on the final play while using linebacker T.J. Edwards as a spy in a situation in which a quarterback scramble wouldn’t have hurt the Bears.
That gut-wrenching loss began the Bears’ current six-game losing streak.
In the Bears’ 20-19 loss to the Packers on Nov. 17, Eberflus chose to let the clock run from 35 seconds down to three seconds before calling a timeout to set up kicker Cairo Santos for a game-winning 46-yard field-goal attempt. That kick was blocked in large part because of Santos’ low trajectory, after which Eberflus was scrutinized for his reluctance to push for more yardage to set up an easier field-goal attempt.
Once again, Eberflus stood by that decision.
Eberflus must now wonder whether he still has the Bears’ collective belief. After the botched ending Thursday, his players certainly couldn’t explain why there wasn’t a timeout called as the clock ticked down and left them time for just one last play.
“You got to talk to the people who control those things,” Allen said. “I hear the play, line up and run the play. I don’t know.”
The Bears were fortunate to even be in a position to tie or win the game in the final seconds. They trailed 16-0 at halftime, and it could’ve been much worse. Chicago’s offense failed to pick up a first down until late in the second quarter, and its defense forced Detroit to settle for three field goals in the first half.
Williams threw for 222 yards and three touchdowns in the second half to lead the Bears back, but Santos never got the opportunity to even the score in the final seconds.
Williams’ performance has improved over the past three games under new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, who was promoted on Nov. 12 after the Bears fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after just nine games on the job.
The Bears had never fired a coordinator in the middle of a season prior to Waldron’s dismissal. Perhaps that represents a new precedent that could loom large over Eberflus’ immediate future. This is a franchise that has stated stronger intentions since hiring president/CEO Kevin Warren in 2023 and one that still has hope for a promising future thanks to Williams.
The Bears have a potential candidate to be their next head coach in Brown, who has interviewed for head coaching positions in the past. The team could be enticed to give Brown a five-game audition at the end of what’s now a lost season.
Bears management has a three-day weekend to consider a coaching change. At this point, the discussion shouldn’t center on whether Eberflus deserves to stay on the job. What must be prioritized is keeping this team together and supporting Williams as a budding franchise quarterback.
It seems now that Eberflus’ dismissal is a matter of when, not if.
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Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.