The Chicago Bears wasted no time to firing Matt Eberflus as head coach following a head-scratching loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day, and the moments after the game could explain why the move was made by the franchise.
After rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked with 30 seconds remaining in Lions territory, needing a field goal to force overtime, the clock ran down as the offense tried to line up and the ball remained unsnapped until several ticks were left.
Williams heaved a pass to D.J. Moore, but it fell on the turf and the Lions won the game despite the Bears’ second-half comeback efforts.
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Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus looks on during a game between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit, Michigan USA, on Thursday, November 28, 2024. (Amy Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
What made it head-scratching was the fact that Eberflus had one timeout remaining in his pocket, yet he never used it despite Williams clearly not moving fast enough to get the play going.
After the game, ESPN reported that team president and CEO Kevin Warren hung around the locker room longer than normal.
“We need to be better,” Warren said to players.
BEARS CEO ADMITS TO MISHANDLING MATT EBERFLUS’ FIRING: ‘I’LL BE THE FIRST ONE TO RAISE MY HAND’
But even more telling about Eberflus’s future with the franchise was his post-game speech in the locker room, which was a “s— show,” according to one player, per ESPN.
Eberflus began speaking to the team after the game, but he was cut off by star cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who laid into his fellow Bears.
“There was frustration,” Johnson told WSCR radio in Chicago on Monday. “There was words from myself that I expressed just from my frustration from losing.
“Part of what I said after the game was I’ve been losing for five years. I feel like a high-level player like myself, after a certain point, losing games how we’ve been losing games, somebody has to express something. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and it went the way it went.”
Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus on the sidelines during the second half against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. (David Reginek-Imagn Images)
Eberflus reportedly walked out of the room after speaking for just “seconds,” according to ESPN. And the vibe was the room was categorized as “contentious.”
One player told ESPN that, while Eberflus’ intentions were always in the right place, his message about fighting hard and coming up short was becoming repetitive.
“You only want to hear it so much,” Cole Kmet said. “Coach is going to say what he’s going to say.”
In the end, Eberflus became the first Bears head coach in franchise history to be fired mid-season, and he did so with a 5-19 record in one-score games — the worst mark in NFL history with at least 20 games. That included the tipped Hail Mary against the Washington Commanders that landed in Noah Brown’s hands, while Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was taunting fans in the stands during the play.
Eberflus’ job status was talked about then, and the bad endings to games since ultimately led to a decision to move on from the Bears.
Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus talks to the media after an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Detroit, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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The Bears turned to Thomas Brown as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
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