Time ran out Thursday evening, not solely on one other avoidable Bears defeat, but in addition on Matt Eberflus’ teaching tenure in Chicago.
Eberflus was fired Friday, hours after Eberflus held a information convention on Zoom and stated he was confident he can be teaching the Bears towards the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 8.
The closing straw was a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions punctuated by Eberflus not calling timeout with 32 seconds remaining and the Bears dealing with a third-and-26 on the Lions’ 41. After being sacked, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams tried to hurry his teammates to the road of scrimmage. But the slow-developing play, a protracted cross try and Rome Odunze, allowed time to expire earlier than Cairo Santos had a shot to tie it with a 58-yard subject purpose try.
In the Bears’ locker room, there gave the impression to be extra resignation than indignation after arising with one other approach to lose. There was the tipped 52-yard Hail Mary towards the Washington Commanders, when cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was taunting followers whereas receivers had been operating routes; the blocked subject purpose try towards the Green Bay Packers; and the livid fourth-quarter rally towards the Minnesota Vikings just for Chicago to lose in time beyond regulation.
Thursday marked the Bears’ sixth straight loss and introduced Eberflus’ report to 14-32, together with 5-19 in one-score video games. That is the worst report of any coach with not less than 20 one-score video games in NFL historical past.
“We did sufficient as gamers to win this recreation,” Bears broad receiver Keenan Allen stated Thursday.
If there was one shiny spot, it has been the play of Williams, who threw three landing passes Thursday to make it 5 over the previous two weeks. Williams has thrown 232 passes with out an interception, the longest streak for a rookie in NFL historical past.
Continuing to develop Williams would be the main goal for the brand new coach.
Here are a few of the key questions dealing with a corporation that had hoped to be difficult for a playoff spot, relatively than speaking a few teaching search with a 4-8 report.
What was Eberflus’ deadly flaw?
It was a mix of issues. Developing Williams right into a franchise quarterback was the precedence, so hiring and firing Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator in-season did not assist. And the very fact the earlier O-coordinator, Luke Getsy, was fired by the Bears in January and by the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 4 didn’t converse effectively of Eberflus’ skill to select coaches. In truth, he fired eight of them throughout his two-plus seasons.
Also, the Bears had been horrible in shut video games, and a number of other teaching choices stood out.
Before the Hail Mary that price the Bears in Week 8, Washington accomplished a 13-yard cross to get in place for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels — who was coping with a rib damage — to finish the cross that traveled 52.9 air yards.
After the loss, Eberflus stated the penultimate play “actually does not matter” as a result of “it is at all times going to come back all the way down to [defending] the final play.”
Several gamers disagreed — publicly.
“I feel that situation presumably may’ve had the corners pressed up, as a result of they only ran two out cuts and the play was referred to as simply to get a pair extra yards to throw it down the sector,” Bears security Kevin Byard III stated. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson additionally questioned why the Bears did not use one in every of their three timeouts to get located and provides themselves a greater probability to defend the Hail Mary.
Against Green Bay, Eberflus defended his option to not run one closing play to get Santos nearer earlier than making an attempt a 48-yard game-winning subject purpose that was blocked. Williams received the offense to the Packers’ 28-yard line, and Eberflus let the clock run from 30 seconds down to three earlier than calling a timeout and sending the kicking unit onto the sector.
Because the wind was not a consider Week 11, Eberflus stated he felt snug with Santos’ vary and didn’t wish to danger fumbling whereas attempting to select up a number of extra yards.
And in Detroit, Eberflus opted to not name a timeout with the Bears in place to kick a game-tying subject purpose or take the lead outright within the closing moments of a second-half comeback. The Bears’ coach defended his recreation administration, saying it was “dealt with the appropriate means.”
And these blunders weren’t restricted to the 2024 season.
Blown leads and dropping one-score video games outlined the Bears in 2023 after they squandered double-digit leads in losses to Denver, Detroit and Cleveland. Chicago’s three losses after main by 10-plus factors within the fourth quarter had been tied for essentially the most such defeats in a season in NFL historical past. — Courtney Cronin
1:22
RC: Eberflus’ dealing with of Bears’ loss to Lions a ‘fireable end’
Ryan Clark explains why Matt Eberflus’ mismanagement of the clock towards the Lions justifies his firing as Bears head coach.
How seemingly is it the subsequent coach might be offensive-minded to assist Williams’ growth?
It’s seemingly.
If Williams continues to indicate progress below interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, it is onerous to examine Brown not being interviewed to change into Chicago’s subsequent head coach. Continuity is necessary when creating a younger quarterback.
If Williams is snug with Brown and believes he is the only option, it is going to be fascinating to see the influence of that endorsement.
Some of essentially the most notable candidates anticipated to interview for head-coaching alternatives this cycle are offensive coordinators, with the Detroit Lions‘ Ben Johnson headlining the group.
A expertise equivalent to Williams ought to draw the curiosity of the highest offensive coaches. That may very well be Johnson, or the Buffalo Bills‘ Joe Brady or a handful of different younger up-and-coming offensive coaches who’ve demonstrated a capability to construct offenses with sturdy quarterback play, together with Liam Coen with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Zac Robinson with the Atlanta Falcons and Drew Petzing with the Arizona Cardinals. — Cronin
Who may have enter into the choice on the subsequent coach, and who will make the ultimate name?
When Eberflus was employed in January 2022, the Bears’ staff president was Ted Phillips. A 12 months later, Kevin Warren changed the retiring Phillips. Warren was the Big Ten commissioner earlier than he joined the Bears.
In the previous two years, Warren has made many adjustments to the Bears’ enterprise workplace and has spearheaded the stalled effort to construct a brand new stadium. He has been far more public-facing than Phillips had been, and when Warren was employed, the Bears’ reporting construction modified. GM Ryan Poles started reporting to Warren, as a substitute of to chairman George McCaskey, however the Bears had been clear that Poles retained closing say on soccer choices.
In 2022, the Bears had a five-person search committee for normal supervisor and head coach that included McCaskey; Phillips; vice chairman of participant engagement Lamar Campbell; senior vice chairman of variety, fairness and inclusion Tanesha Wade; and Bill Polian, who spent the final 13 years of his profession because the Colts’ GM earlier than retiring in 2009.
Polian was the one non-Bears staffer concerned within the interview means of the candidates. In 2015, when the Bears employed Ryan Pace and John Fox, they used former normal supervisor Ernie Accorsi to assist with the method. In 2018, after Fox was fired, Pace led the interview course of that landed Matt Nagy as head coach, and Phillips and McCaskey accompanied Pace in interviews.
The search committee will seemingly take the identical form as 2022, however this time with Warren instead of Phillips. Warren has had an energetic function in football-side conferences in his two years in Chicago, and he’ll seemingly be an influential voice within the determination. — Kalyn Kahler
What’s the standing of GM Ryan Poles?
In January, Poles stated it was his name to retain Eberflus, citing stability as a foremost cause, however he stated he gathered enter from Warren and McCaskey to make the choice.
The unknown issue going into this hiring course of is Poles. Warren did not rent Poles. Poles had the ultimate say on hiring Eberflus in 2022 and was concerned within the hiring of the 2 failed offensive coordinators — Luke Getsy and Shane Waldron. The Bears’ search committee employed Poles in 2022 and did the first-round interviews of all of the head-coaching candidates, however Poles dealt with the second-round interviews for head coach by himself.
If Poles is retained, his opinion will issue into the head-coach determination, and the Bears may current him as the principle decision-maker. But there is a notion across the league that Warren is the one making the calls. When Warren labored in Minnesota because the Vikings’ COO, he didn’t have the identical construction as he did in Chicago. There, Warren was accountable for all enterprise operations, whereas then-GM Rick Spielman dealt with all soccer operations.
After Eberflus was retained final 12 months, Warren stated he wished to remain the course, citing his expertise with the Rams and Dick Vermeil as proof of persistence paying off. Warren did not select Eberflus or Poles, and staying the course did not repay, so Warren goes to should rethink what he is in search of in a soccer chief. — Kahler
Where ought to the Bears put their focus within the 2025 draft?
Their roster has a number of clear-cut wants. First amongst these is within the trenches. On offense, all the line exterior of proper sort out Darnell Wright may very well be changed. This is the place Texas left sort out Kelvin Banks Jr. comes into play, if he is accessible. In a weak offensive sort out class, Banks is the one participant with a top-10 grade. ESPN’s Football Power Index initiatives the Bears to select No. 10 total within the draft.
Defensively, Chicago may construct out its line with Michigan’s Mason Graham as a 3-technique sort out. This can be an especially sturdy edge-rusher class with Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Georgia’s Mykel Williams within the Bears’ vary. Given these selections, defending Williams with Banks can be the perfect possibility. — Matt Miller
