It was right there. After three miserable weeks, Matt Eberflus had a chance to revive his hopes of saving his job. All he had to do was close out the Green Bay Packers in the 4th quarter. The Chicago Bears had the lead 19-14. The Packers weren’t getting many chunk plays. One more stop could do it. Then, as has become routine, it all fell apart. A coverage bust on Christian Watson led to a 60-yard gain. To make it worse, Eberflus challenged the ruling if it was a catch despite only having two timeouts left. The call was upheld, dropping it to only one.
Green Bay scored two plays later. Once again, Eberflus’ defense failed to shut the door in the 4th quarter.
Still, there was enough time left for Caleb Williams and the offense to save the day. They came so close to doing so. The rookie quarterback made three big-time throws, including a 4th down conversion to Rome Odunze that put Chicago at the Packers 30-yard line. There were 35 seconds left, and the Packers had just called a timeout. However, rather than work to make the field goal easier, Eberflus did exactly what you’d expect. He ran the ball, got two yards, and sent out Cairo Santos for a 46-yard attempt.
You can pretty much guess what happened next.
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Matt Eberflus is the king of gutwrenching losses.
Put another way, he is a choker. There is no arguing against it at this point. The evidence is overwhelming. Dropping double-digit leads to Denver, Detroit, and Cleveland last year was bad enough since the head coach ran the defense for all of them. Yet it was the past two heartbreakers that hurt him the most because both losses can be directly attributed to his bad decisions. He called soft coverage that set up the Hail Mary in Washington and then failed to call a timeout when Tyrique Stevenson wasn’t paying attention. This time, he again allowed busted plays to let the opponent go ahead and coached scared when his team was in a position to win.
He had 35 seconds left and a timeout in his pocket. Cairo Santos was 141-of-148 (95%) in his career from inside 40 yards. Chicago just needed seven more. Instead, Matt Eberflus settled for a 46-yarder despite knowing Santos was 64-of-81 (79%) in that range and already having a kick blocked this year. Once again, the situational awareness ruined a winnable game. This is why Eberflus cannot stick around beyond this season. He finds ways to lose.
@Dr. Melhus I have been waiting for someone to indicate that. My critique is that less than the 6pt lead: (1) had nothing to do with 3rd vs. 4th quarter theory, but kicking the extra point would have required the Packers to tie the score with 2 FGs rather than them winning with two FGs (which could have been accomplished if they had kicked the first one rather than going for it on 4th down–a mistake on their part); (2) attempting the 2 pt and not achieving is also a risky reduction in momentum; (3) it also suggests that you… Read more »
@Dr.Sallie. I agree that going for two wasn’t the best decision. But if the Bears had gone for 1, then the Packers would have gone for 1 after their last TD, and the final score would have likely been 21-20 instead of 20-19, so that error doesn’t really matter.
Flus gonna Flus.
Thanks for writing that article Captain obvious. Nothing like stating what’s more obvious than anything else to even the most dimwitted of people.
The fact that the guy stood around with his thumb in his ass instead of attempting to move the ball forward before taking the field goal attempt , tells you that he couldn’t poor piss out of a boot , even if the instructions were printed on the heel.
Both Trestman and Nagy lost similar games by not trying to get more yardage before an anticipated short-enough FG. Those and this one all failed. A 46yd FG attempt is not an assured gimme in a game situation like this one. Again, horrifically too conservative play-calling to win this game. Remove this idiot now! He either has not seen or recalled too many game endings or simply does not have REAL feel for game situations. Flus: a closer FG attempt would have changed the Santos kick and its trajectory, making it more difficult to be blocked. And going for two… Read more »