Reaching 4-2 was a good start for the Chicago Bears. However, everybody knew the season’s biggest test was at hand in Washington against the 5-2 Commanders. Head coach Matt Eberflus needed to seize this moment. He had two weeks to prepare. His defense was playing well, and the offense had found some momentum. Knocking off a red-hot team in their own building would send a loud message the Bears were for real. Instead, the game continued a troubling trend that has followed Eberflus since he took over two years ago.
Since the start of 2022, the Bears are 1-13 against teams with a winning record. Now, before you say anything, yes. It is acknowledged that the Bears were awful that first year. However, it hasn’t gotten much better since. They were a combined 1-5 between last season and this season.
- 2022: 0-8
- 2023: 1-3
- 2024: 0-2
This paints a clear picture of Eberflus right now. He is perfectly adequate at beating up on subpar opponents. Unfortunately, when he runs into better teams, the Bears always seem to come up short. Washington was another example. Too often, it felt like their coaches were a step or two ahead of what Eberflus tried to do. Nothing illustrated this better than the baffling goal-to-go play call by Shane Waldron to hand off to Doug Kramer, resulting in a backbreaking turnover.
Matt Eberflus is not out of the woods by any stretch.
He has done great work returning the defense to its customary spot among the NFL’s best. His plan for Caleb Williams has been solid as well. He isn’t a bad coach. The problem is he hasn’t established himself as a good one either. Eberflus is falling into the category of average. Anybody who knows the NFL will tell you average coaches don’t win championships. The schedule won’t remain easy for much longer. They have Arizona and New England up next. Then comes the gauntlet, starting with Green Bay and Minnesota.
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Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren have offered no indication that they are considering a coaching change. Why would they? However, the winds shift fast in this league. Next year will be the last of Matt Eberflus’ contract. That will force the Bears to make a decision. Either they extend him to maintain continuity, let him coach out the deal as a lame duck, or they fire him and try to find an upgrade. This loss to Washington won’t decide anything, but it does serve as a reminder that the leash is slowly getting shorter.
At this point it really doesn’t matter how bad Eberflus is. The way the team is playing they are going to get slaughtered by the other teams in the division and Eberflus will be gone. The unfortunate part of this is that Poles was too stupid to make the coaching change last year so now CW will have to deal with a new HC in his second year.
Unfortunately, If Matt Eberflus’ ceiling is average as a head coach then the writing is on the wall. Average won’t win championships.
Well, Caleb wasn’t my guy in the draft. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised that all the reports about him being a prima donna and PITA have so far been nothing but BS.
And I’ve been pretty pleased with his progress this season. And I think playing behind that OL should get him a medal, and Poles and Eberflus slapped upside the head with a rubber chicken…
However, I have to be honest. His accuracy in that game was not great. There is room for improvement.
To add on: I don’t own this team. Therefore, I have no say in what they do, or whether they get better or worse. I’m just a schlub who has seen what success looks like, and what mediocrity looks like, and what failure looks like. I’m not a bandwagon guy, but success is success is success. There are some very limited differences in how successful people, and organizations become and stay successful. There are LOTS of ways that failure continues. So thrashing around with good ideas is always something that some people will try. How you get there, is the… Read more »
NOW it’s the coaching. Let’s keep this simple: The Head Coach is HEAD of the entire team. Not JUST the Defense and not JUST the offense and not JUST the special teams. The coordinators, offensive and defensive and special teams, are HEADS of their respective sectors. They are responsible both for the development and COORDINATION of the players AND coaches in their sectors. The position coaches are responsible for the players in their positions: both to getting the most out of those players, but the TRUTH about whether those players can, and do, know the basics, don’t know, can learn,… Read more »