LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) -- Struggling amid a 3-5-1 start, the Colts fired coach Frank Reich on Monday morning. But it was whom they hired to replace him that created quite a buzz around the NFL.
The Colts tabbed former player Jeff Saturday as their interim coach for the remainder of the season, bypassing in-house candidates with coaching experience to hire an individual who had never coached in the NFL or even college. A 14-year NFL veteran, Saturday had only coached at the high school level.
First-year Bears head coach Matt Eberflus spent the past four seasons as Reich's defensive coordinator, and he expressed surprise Wednesday about how the transition played out for the Colts. Eberflus was asked whether it's good for the NFL to have individuals from outside the coaching ranks hired into such a position.
"That's a good question," Eberflus said. "I don't think I want to answer it. But I will say that I was a little bit taken aback by what happened there because obviously Frank is a really good friend of mine. I really enjoyed my time with him. He certainly helped professionally, as a man, as a coach. And I can't say enough good things about Frank Reich. I love him to death. He's a dear friend of mine. And I have a lot of other guys in the building that are in that situation.
"I know it's hard. My heart goes out to those guys. Hopefully they will have some wisdom and stay strong."
The Colts' decision to hire Saturday as interim coach was made by owner Jim Irsay, who maintained a connection to Saturday since his playing days ended. Saturday, 47, was a six-time Pro Bowl center who played 13 years for Indianapolis.
The Colts have former NFL head coaches in John Fox and Gus Bradley on their staff but bypassed them to hire Saturday, whose appointment as interim coach didn't violate the Rooney Rule, which requires interviews with two minority candidates in a hiring circle. That rule only applies for full-time hires. Even so, Saturday's hiring led to questions about NFL owners' propensity to hire friends rather than making a better effort to seek out new, diverse candidates.
Reich was 40-33-1 in leading the Colts across five seasons. Indianapolis has lost three straight games, including a 26-3 setback to New England on Sunday.
Eberflus, 52, was initially hired by the Colts as defensive coordinator in early 2018 prior to Reich's arrival as head coach. Reich elected to keep Eberflus on his coaching staff, and the two developed a strong relationship.
The Bears hired Eberflus as their head coach in late January.
"I just think the world of Matt, personally and professionally," Reich said in February. "Matt's a man who is high conviction, clear vision of what he wants, very process-oriented and knows the standards that it's going to take to get there and just knows what it takes."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
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