The Chicago Bears are in the middle of an epic mid-season collapse. Chicago is 4-8 after a heartbreaking loss against the Lions on Thanksgiving. They have now lost six games in a row, including three nailbiters over the past 11 days. This has understandably drawn out critics of Matt Eberflus, especially after his blunder during the last 30 seconds of Thursday’s Thanksgiving loss.
Former NFL safety Ryan Clark issued a blunt response to Eberflus’ mismanagement of the final 33 seconds against the Lions.
“I don’t use malpractice, I use fireable offense because that’s what it is,” Clark said on First Take on Friday. “To me he has absolutely sealed the deal if you’re making decisions and you’re the Chicago Bears on whether or not he should continue being the head coach of this team going forward. When you look at the end of that game, I want to think about something that Keenan Allen said, we did enough as players. That’s one of your star players, a veteran in this league, a guy who has been a Pro-Bowler most of his time saying, as players we executed and did what we were told to do.”
Clark believes this is the final straw for Eberflus. He already had a good chance of being fired in January.
Even veteran players like Keenan Allen and DJ Moore appeared to throw Eberflus under the bus.
“I don’t know why we didn’t call a timeout,” Moore said on Thursday, summing up everyone’s feelings.
Add Matt Eberflus to the laundry list of recent defensive coordinators who have failed as head coaches.
Matt Eberflus issues blunt response on Bears coaching future
Understandably, Bears fans have their pitchforks out for Matt Eberflus.
The Bears coach was asked multiple times on Friday about his job security after the Thanksgiving debacle. Eberflus issued only blunt responses in return.
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Eberflus said that he is now working on the Bears’ next game against the 49ers, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. He was then pressed multiple times about if he expects to be coaching that game. Eberflus responded by saying that the “operation has been normal” in regards to his future as the Bears head coach.
Bears fans should not be too surprised if Eberflus is not immediately fired. Chicago would have to turn around and find an interim head coach for the final weeks of the season.
Eberflus is basically guaranteed to be fired this offseason, so it makes no sense to go through an interim coach just to hire someone different in January.
For now, the Bears will just follow Eberflus’ lead and get ready to play the 49ers in Week 14.