Matt Eberflus earned the dubious honor of being the first head coach in Chicago Bears history to get fired midseason. Then again, it wasn’t the first such accomplishment in his ugly run at the job. He also has the longest losing streak in franchise history at 14 games, went 5-19 in one-score games, and is the only coach to never beat the Green Bay Packers. It’s no wonder everything fell apart when it did. The timeout gaffe in Detroit was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. In reality, that implosion was several months in the making. Jaylon Johnson was the spark.
Everybody heard the story. As Eberflus tried to give another of his usual speeches about sticking together, the star cornerback couldn’t take it anymore. He exploded at the head coach with such emotional fury that Eberflus was forced to step out of the room. For the first time in weeks, Johnson spoke about what happened via Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I wouldn’t even say it had anything to do with [Eberflus],” Johnson told the Sun-Times on Wednesday. “It had everything to do with losing. We’re doing things right and still not winning games. We’ve had plenty of those.
“When you lose so much — and you put so much into it — it starts to take a toll on you a little bit. And instead of letting that out at home or something, I let that out in the midst of the frustration in the locker room. I did it the right way. I didn’t demean anybody. I wasn’t disrespectful in any way. It was just emotionally expressing my frustration from over the years.”
Jaylon Johnson was building to that moment long before Eberflus got there.
Keep in mind that he was used to success throughout college. Utah went 7-6, 9-5, and 11-3 during his time there. To go from that to a team that has failed to record a winning record in five seasons is a bitter pill to swallow. Jaylon Johnson likely feels the Bears are wasting his prime years. Yes, he got a massive extension and is set up financially for the rest of his life, but that isn’t why he plays the game. He wants a Super Bowl ring. That is the dream. To not even get an opportunity to pursue one is incredibly deflating, especially when the head coach is actively sabotaging your chances with his ongoing ineptitude. Eberflus may not have been the sole target of Johnson’s outburst, but there is no question he was the well-deserved focal point.
@Beardown54 – how do you know how a player has “matured… as a man” – ? What gives you any background or knowledge to make that claim? As far as not getting turnovers – that was something that Eberloser stressed, Sean Desai was still running Chuck Pagano’s version of Fangio’s defense, and had not pushed for Johnson to take more risks to create more turnovers in the previous defense. Now, you may personally agree with Eberflus that top corners need to be ballhawks, but not all DCs preach risk-taking to get TO’s over coverage. So, what Eberflus did attacking Johnson… Read more »
There is a lot of content you’re missing, Tred. I think you know that. I don’t give a shit what Flus thought of JJ. With my own eyes, I could see his cover skills were exceptional but lacked creating turnovers, which is what top corners do. He did that last year and got rewarded, similar to Fuller. He matured as a professional and man. One could argue Poles played that hand perfectly. Mack was a descending player in a teardown. There was no reason to keep him if we were a contender, sure. I am not a Poles apologist, but… Read more »
This is how people SHOULD be at work. Management might not like it, but it keeps people from kicking the dog, beating the girlfriend and maybe management has to articulate to everyone WHY they do the moronic things they do.
I’m all for hierarchy of responsibility, but also for accountability. If everyone knows WHY you go on 4th down, everyone in the room takes responsibility when it happens, or doesn’t.
@Beardown54 – why would you trade a 6th, plus Khalil Mack who has 30 sacks and 47 QB hits the past three seasons, and earns LESS, for Sweat who has 17 sacks and 34 QB hits in the same three year span, and who only plays about 65% of the time, and you had to pay as a top 5 pass rusher as soon as you traded for him? That’s idiotic. You’re paying draft capital and cash to trade DOWN for an inferior player Fact – since we traded for Sweat we’ve won 9 games – 5 of them last… Read more »
Why would you have kept Mack on a rebuild? JJ’s game went to another level in year 4, and he got paid. At the time, he wasn’t worth Top CB money. Most people on this site didn’t want to pay him. Trading for Sweat 2 years later was a prudent move. He is playing hurt this year, which is pretty obvious.