Matt Eberflus looks like a man with his back to the wall. After a promising 4-2 start going into the bye week, his Chicago Bears have lost two in a row. One was the agonizing Hail Mary in Washington and the other was a listless beatdown in Arizona. It feels like the head coach might be losing control of the locker room. A loss on Sunday to the 2-7 New England Patriots might be the breaking point. Firing Eberflus must become a certainty in such a case. However, that decision ultimately rests with GM Ryan Poles.
He was the one who hired the head coach in 2022. The two have kept a strong bond during the tough times since. They seem to share the same vision of how to build a competitive culture. Still, Poles has never been shy about making tough decisions for the good of the franchise. Surely, he would consider moving on from Eberflus if it meant safeguarding quarterback Caleb Williams, right? Not based on what Adam Rank is hearing. The NFL Network analyst revealed on his The Sick Podcast that people close to Poles don’t believe he will fire Eberflus, regardless of what happens this season.
Ryan Poles won’t go down the same path as previous GMs.
One thing that has characterized recent Bears history is the inability to have continuity between a head coach and a drafted quarterback. Rex Grossman switched coaches from Dick Jauron to Lovie Smith after one year. Mitch Trubisky went from John Fox to Matt Nagy after one year. Justin Fields went from Nagy to Eberflus. The cycle hasn’t been broken. It appears Poles is committed to changing that. While things haven’t gone as hoped so far this season, the Bears GM seems determined upon his course.
Continuity is a vital key to long-term success. It was why the Bears signed Eberflus to a five-year contract instead of four years. They likely knew there would be stumbling blocks. Ryan Poles wanted to ensure there wasn’t so much chaos from constant changes. He still believes in Eberflus despite the recent struggles. Keeping him into 2025 would allow Williams to stay in the same offensive system. Poles could use his considerable resources to then build further around him.
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If the season spirals out of control, as many predict, such a decision will anger lots of people. The question will be whether the McCaskeys sign off on that plan.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and over, hoping for a different result. Basically what the Bears are doing.
You don’t continue to keep a coach who is doing a very poor job, just for the sake of continuity. If the continuity in place is bringing poor results over a 3 season period, that’s enough of a sample size to say shit ain’t working. There’s a very very likely chance that 2024 will end as a regression from 2023. It’s highly unlikely this team gets to 7 wins. I’m sure Poles will want to keep Flus. Which is why Poles should go too. He has also done a poor job, and he chose the coach.
The last two games this year have been brutal for Eberflus — and he had been skating for so long on thin ice, that I tthought he might get used to it.
But both, Washington and Phoenix revealed more new and even worse problems with Matt Eberflus’ coaching.
I would imagine Kevin Warren will not fire either, mid–year.
But Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus (and their crew) need to go.
I have no idea whether Warren has any kind of relationship with Bears assistant GM, Ian Cunningham.
But, we’ll find out soon.
If that’s the case, then I will become a fan of whatever team hires Ben Johnson, or of the Chargers, who already chose to be a REAL team and hired Jim Harbaugh when the Bears didn’t want him. The rest of you should do the same.
Eberflus may bring Poles down with him. Like Rank said at the end of the video clip “yeah why not make this misery last longer.” If Eberflus has lost the locker room then it’s suicide to stick with the status quo. Its hard to be a fan of a club that won’t help itself. What good is continuity if the players aren’t buying into what your head coach is trying to sell them. It’s looking like this is a 5+ year rebuild that’s doomed to failure. From what we’ve seen of Eberflus he’s not a guy that’ll coach a team… Read more »