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.
@barry_mccockiner is right. Bears need a tough, ballsy HC.
There have been way too many wimpy or head shaking decisions by Flus from tossing stupid Challenges that waste timeouts to putting an aggressive dominating defense in a soft prevent that allows the opp to move quickly downfield and score.
Flus has cost the Bears several wins.
Flus… lose.
Hate to say it, but it’s time to move on. The sooner the better before we’re forced into deciding between the lesser of two doughballs!
One thing you can say for Flus is he’s consistent. King Poles hired King Joker the Choker.
Hey @Veece — How did you like Ryan Poles’ version of the Connor Williams “damaged goods” drama? Poles’ multi-year stalking target, Ryan Bates started the Green Bay game — and lasted all of 7 snaps. “The Bears acquired Bates in a trade with the Buffalo Bills in March 2024. The trade freed up about $1.4 million in payroll for the Bills, who were projected to be over the salary cap by $44 million in 2024.” — Spotrac $4 million per year — and worse, a 5th round pick to the Bills (which the Bears later traded back for a 2025… Read more »
@Barry Not only are the Bears org and regime hopelessly stupid, but so are many of their fans, including SM Hyenas, Children of the Corn, and some that I will not name, who should know better. Sad, really sad.
Whoever is in charge of hiring the next HC of CHI (The McCaskeys? Kevin Warren? Some dumb as shit consultant? A small gaggle of dumb as shit consultants?) needs to find the person who gives the least amount of fucks about losing and hire them. I’m sick of this ultra-conservative, playing-to-not-lose bullshit. 1) It doesn’t work. 2) It’s boring. 3) When you want so badly not to lose, and then you lose all of the fucking time, it’s absolutely humiliating. I, a mere fan, am humiliated on a weekly basis. If I were anywhere near that locker room, I would… Read more »