Latest Matt Eberflus stat makes things look even worse for the Bears' head coach and held the team back against the Vikings
Every week I find myself saying, "there's no way things can look worse for Chicago Bears' head coach Matt Eberflus," and every week he manages to surprise me.Eberflus' latest blunder came at the beginning of the third quarter in Week 12 against the Minnesota Vikings. On the Vikings' first offensive play of the second-half Sam […]
Every week I find myself saying, "there's no way things can look worse for Chicago Bears' head coach Matt Eberflus," and every week he manages to surprise me.
Eberflus' latest blunder came at the beginning of the third quarter in Week 12 against the Minnesota Vikings. On the Vikings' first offensive play of the second-half Sam Darnold hit Jordan Addison for a 69-yard completion.
After the play, Eberflus challenged whether or not Addison stepped out of bounds while running down the sideline. After a short review, the ruling on the field stood.
The decision to challenge the play was a good one by Eberflus considering the boundary camera proved Addison did step out, but the boundary came unfortunately can't be used during a coach's challenge for some reason.
As a result, it went down on the game book as a failed challenge by the Bears, costing the team a timeout early in the second-half. The Bears are now 0-4 on coach's challenges this season. That alone is a bad stat for the team's head coach, but it gets worse the more you look into it.
The last time Eberflus won a challenge was in Week 9 of the 2023 season on November 5th. That means we've now gone a full calendar year since Eberflus and the Bears have won a coach's challenge. In his career as the Bears' head coach, Eberflus is 2-8 on challenges, the worst by any non first-year coach entering this game, via ESPN.
Just because the decision to challenge the call was a good one doesn't mean Eberflus has been free of making any bad decisions today. On the Bears' following offensive drive, the unit stalled and faced a 4th-and-4. Eberflus sent out the kick team before having them return to the sidelines to go for it. And amid all the confusion before the play, the Bears got the snap off late, rushed the play, and failed to convert.
It seems like every game this season Eberflus has botched the decision-making that ultimately altered the outcome of the game. We'll see what kind of impact that decision has on this game soon.
Good news for the Bears, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams surpassed another franchise rookie record on Sunday and has solidified himself as the team's future. Eberflus continues to do the opposite with each game.
