Matt Eberflus Fired As Bears Make First In-Season Head Coaching Change

Good morning Chicago fans! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

We all have a lot to be thankful for: coaching changes, limited baseball operations budgets, long rebuilds, Play-In Tournament appearances, unreliable bullpens, and even locker room dysfunction. Grateful for our teams in Chicago!

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RESULTS

L - Lions 23, Bears 20: Matt Eberflus’ final game-deciding meltdown

• Another slow start! An EXTREMELY boring 1st half (16-0 Lions) was perfect for the background TV during Thanksgiving dinner. The Bears had 2 first downs in the entire half!

• Credit to the Bears for turning it around. The defense tightened up in the 2nd half to keep them alive as the offense started to click.

• After the defense forced a 3-and-out with 4 minutes left in the game, Lions punter Jack Fox pinned the Bears at the 1-yard line with a 3 point lead. It was a gutsy, sloppy, and unpredictable drive into Lions territory. A 4th & 14 DPI on old friend Kindle Vildor put the Bears at the Lions 25-yard line with 46 seconds to go!

• Caleb Williams was sacked at the 35-yard line with 32 seconds left, and Matt Eberflus HELD ON to their last timeout. The clock ticked away as the players slowly scrambled to the line, Caleb changed the play pre-snap, and a deep shot found the grass as time ran out. Embarrassing clock mismanagement AGAIN. Call the timeout after the sack!!! 😡

• Caleb (20/39, 256 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT) came ALIVE in the 2nd half against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Caleb has been through the ringer this season with coaching turnover and offensive line injuries, but he continues to impress. He singlehandedly brought them back into the game against a one-loss division rival on the road!

• Lions dominated the line of scrimmage in a game that should not have been close. They ran for 194 yards and sacked Caleb 5 times.

• Tyrique Stevenson forced a fumble in the red zone at the end of the 1st half to keep it at a manageable 16-0 headed into halftime

• Bears running backs (just D’Andre Swift this game since Roschon Johnson left with an injury) ran for 39 yards on 11 carries 🤢

• Keenan Allen (73 yards, 2 TD) and DJ Moore (97 yards, 1 TD) made big plays in the second half

• Kevin Byard led the team in tackles (10) yet again

• Even though the defense has let go of the rope since the bye, they came up big again in Detroit on 3rd down (5/14) and in the red zone (2/5)

• Thank goodness the coach is gone with such an undisciplined team (8 penalties)

• They rounded out the trifecta of last-second losses against NFC North rivals with a -7 combined point differential in the 3 consecutive games

SEASON RECORD: 4-8 (Last place)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Caleb Williams

97.8 passer rating and 3 TD against a Lions team that had allowed an average passer rating of 72.7 (1st in the NFL) on the season

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Caleb Williams to Keenan Allen TD (After Caleb took a hit)

NEWS & NOTES

🚨 Fired Matt Eberflus as head coach, named Thomas Brown interim head coach 🚨

A tenure that started with a rainy victory at Soldier Field in 2022 ended with a hurricane of heartbreak losses.

Ryan Poles hired Eberflus right after becoming the Bears GM to build a foundation. He wanted to create a culture the team has never had before. He wanted to see speed and violence on the field. He wanted a winning environment.

My hand is up - I believed in Eberflus after the impressive 5-3 ending to the 2023 season. He took over the defense and started tallying wins. Even after the season, players publicly said how much they enjoyed playing for him and how his message resonated with them.

The 4-2 start this season confirmed my belief. This program was trending in the right direction and about to peak. The defense was playing at an elite level, and the rookie franchise quarterback was making plays we had never seen in our entire lives as Bears fans.

Somehow, they were 6 seconds away from being 5-2 and now sit at 4-8. This was a collapse of incomprehensible measures.

The Hail Mary loss where the 13 yards “didn’t matter” and a player was talking to the crowd during a play, an offensive coordinator firing, a blowout loss at home to a 2-win team, a blocked field goal, an overtime loss, and a ridiculous time management mistake all brought us to the locker room in Detroit.

Reports came in saying how ugly it got in the locker room (see the Adam Jahns and Diana Russini article in Hitting the Links below). The culture was destroyed in a single night in Maryland when the coach refused to own up to his mistakes.

It turns out that a new haircut, an apiary, and a few good scenes on Hard Knocks don’t actually make a coach good at his job.

The Eberflus era will be remembered by 8 fired assistant coaches, a 5-19 record in one-score games, a 14-game losing streak, and a 2-13 record in the NFC North.

Even though he started here during two rebuild years, the results weren’t acceptable.

If you flip the Hail Mary and blocked field goal, the Bears are 6-6. If Eberflus never hired Shane Waldron as OC (Ryan Poles still needs to answer to this, too), they might be 8-4 or better. It was beyond time to make a change and shift the direction of the franchise.

I’m scared for the head coaching search. By all accounts, Ryan Poles’ job is secure, and he will hire the next coach. But we have seen too many search committees hire the wrong person when the Bruce Arians of the world walk out the door. Hiring an offensive coordinator last offseason was the most important hire in decades, and they somehow chose the worst candidate. This is a much bigger hire.

For now, we get Thomas Brown for 5 games. He gave the offense juice, helped Caleb Williams play like Superman again, and used his “aura” to command the room since being promoted to OC. I don’t think anyone can succeed immediately when they get promoted twice in 17 days. But at least he changes the energy.

So long, Flus. Take your HITS philosophy with you.

Hail Mary apologist / Incompetent coach hirer / Timeout hoarder / Sucks 😑

What a weird losing streak this has been:

Caleb Williams set the NFL rookie record for consecutive pass attempts (232+) without an interception. He was also honored at the USC game on Saturday. Cole Kmet attended the USC/ND matchup with him!

Stadium news - The property tax issue with the Arlington Heights property has been resolved; however, the team is still expressing their desire to build in the city.

D’Andre Swift is the Bears nominee for the NFL’s Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award

Manager of football administration and pro scout JJ Cosh left the Bears to become Georgia Tech’s executive associate athletics director for player management. He originally joined the Bears as a scouting assistant under Ryan Pace in 2018.

Only one takeaway this week. The defense needs to catch fire to get anywhere close to their 20-20 goals.

Next up ➡ at the 5-7 49ers. This looked like a tough matchup on schedule release day but is a very winnable game. Here’s our first look at the Post-Eberflus and Thomas Brown era of Bears football. Good thing Flus isn’t here since it’s a Sunday road game. He never won a single one 🤷‍♂️

TROPHY TRACKER (5/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS

W - Blackhawks 6, Stars 2: Please always play 23/24 Conference Finalists!

• Offensive explosion!!! Taylor Hall had a hat trick, Connor Bedard scored his 1st goal in 12 games, and Louis Crevier scored his first NHL goal!

• Hall-Bedard-Kurashev was the new top line and apparently unlocked Hall. His recent scratch must have helped too 👀

L - Wild 3, Blackhawks 2: 2-0 leads are the most dangerous place to be

• Ryan Donato scored his team-high 9th and 10th goals to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead

• 3 straight Wild goals in the 2nd period included a fluky goal off Connor Murphy’s skate and a complete whiff by Petr Mrazek on a long wrister

L - Blue Jackets 6, Blackhawks 3: Hawks can’t keep up in high-scoring matchups

• Hawks scored 3 power play goals (Bedard, Nick Foligno, Craig Smith) on 6 chances as Bedard looked confident and effective again

• Mrazek struggled in his 5th straight start and allowed 5 goals on 35 shots

SEASON RECORD: 8-14-2 (18 points)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Taylor Hall

3 goals, 1 assist (4 points) and his first hat trick since 2013

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Petr Mrazek glove save

NEWS & NOTES

Laurent Brossoit had another procedure on his knee and will miss another 6 weeks

Traded AHL F Ryder Rolston to the Nashville Predators for future considerations

It’s December, so as we all expected, Ryan Donato leads the team with 10 goals and Ilya Mikheyev leads the team with a +2 rating. Connor Bedard has the most points with 19 in 24 games even though he lost confidence and has been playing with a turnstile of linemates…

It has been 16 days since the Hawks only scored 1 goal in a game! Finally some offense!!

TROPHY TRACKER (2/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS

W - Bulls 127, Wizards 108 (NBA Cup): A push for the Cup!!

• A slow shooting start (1/13 from 3PT in the 1st quarter) quickly turned into a balanced offensive attack

• 7 players scored in double digits as the Bulls never looked back from a 40-point 2nd quarter

L - Magic 133, Bulls 119: Ugly showing in Orlando despite Lonzo Ball’s return

• Magic took advantage of 26 fouls with a 26/28 (92.9%) free throw shooting performance

• Coby White (9p) and Zach LaVine (8p) struggled from the field (6/19 total) and were collectively outscored by Talen Horton-Tucker (20p) in his 14 minutes off the bench

L - Celtics 138, Bulls 129 (NBA Cup): Impressive game against the defending champs!

• Bulls went toe-to-toe with the champs all game as Nikola Vucevic shot lights out (32p/11r, 6/9 from 3)

• Jayson Tatum (35p/14r) and Payton Pritchard (29p, 7/11 from 3) took over as the Celtics pulled away at the end

SEASON RECORD: 8-13 (11th place in East)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Nikola Vucevic

3 games, 3 double-doubles, 23.3p/11.3r/3.7a per game, 9/18 (50%) 3PT

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Coby White from the logo

NEWS & NOTES

Bulls finished 2-2 in their NBA Cup Group and did not advance

Zach LaVine passed Kirk Hinrich for the most made 3PT (1,050) in Bulls history!

Ayo Dosunmu has been starting in place of the injured Patrick Williams in a 4-guard lineup

KC Johnson reported the Bulls will make roster changes before the trade deadline, and everyone on the roster is available

TROPHY TRACKER (1/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Bob Nightengale reported that the Cubs are focusing on mid-market players and are “probably” out on Soto, Burnes, Fried, and other high-priced free agents.

Hired Andy Haines as a minor league hitting coordinator and Drew Hedman as the assistant director of hitting, promoted Casey Jacobson to assistant pitching coach after Daniel Moskos left for the Marlins

TROPHY TRACKER (5/10 ➡ 🏆)

Ryan Donato

Donato wore a tie before the Wild game that belonged to his late friend, Colby Cave.

Cave’s wife, Emily, gifted some of Colby’s possessions to his friends so they could honor him.

Donato ended up scoring two goals against the Wild!

Thomas Brown should have stayed at offensive coordinator.

I see why Ryan Poles decided on Brown for the interim head coaching role.

He was the exact opposite of Shane Waldron and actually garnered the respect of the players in that locker room. In a fairly direct correlation, he is also the opposite of Matt Eberflus. This team needs a tough, strong leader who will be firm with their direction and standards. Based on everything we have heard, the offense has responded to Brown.

On the other hand, there had to be SOMEONE else who could take this role for 5 games. Richard Hightower? Eric Washington? Jon Hoke? Chad Morton for the entertainment?

I don’t want anything to mess with Caleb Williams’ trajectory and development to finish off the season. Brown is his current OC and play-caller and needs to continue in that role. Reportedly, Brown will still call plays while acting as the head coach, but this will of course expand his responsibilities.

Keep Caleb rolling with this setup on the offensive side, and let someone else use their timeouts at the correct point of the game. I’m guessing Brown will get an interview in the offseason, but I don’t believe these 5 games will help or hurt him at all. Nobody can adequately do a job they are forced into after a separate promotion 17 days earlier.

Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini - The Bears finally fired Matt Eberflus (The Athletic)

Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney - What we’re hearing about the Cubs (The Athletic)

Ben Pope - How do Blackhawks players stay engaged on the bench between shifts? (Chicago Sun-Times)

Kevin Fishbain - The Matt Eberflus timeline (The Athletic)

Daily Faceoff - Kyle Davidson interview | Frankly Speaking (YouTube)

Thanks for reading! Finish off the turkey leftovers and listen to generic soundbites from Ryan Poles this week!