Chicago Bears officially do what needed to be done after embarrassing Week 13 loss on Thanksgiving
Moments after speaking with the media on Friday, the Chicago Bears announced they have fired head coach Matt Eberflus.Eberflus becomes the first head coach fired in-season in franchise history following an embarrassing national TV loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.While speaking with reporters earlier this morning, Eberflus noted that it was business as usual […]
Moments after speaking with the media on Friday, the Chicago Bears announced they have fired head coach Matt Eberflus.
Eberflus becomes the first head coach fired in-season in franchise history following an embarrassing national TV loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.
While speaking with reporters earlier this morning, Eberflus noted that it was business as usual at Halas Hall with he and the rest of the coaches re-visiting the game and looking ahead to next week.
"This morning, after meeting with [chairman] George [H. McCaskey] and [President and CEO] Kevin [Warren], we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the leadership of our football team and the head-coaching position," general manager Ryan Poles said via the team's official statement release. "I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and dedication to our organization. We extend our gratitude for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his family the best moving forward."
"I support Ryan and the decision that was made this morning," Warren added. "We understand how imperative the head-coaching role is for building and maintaining a championship-caliber team, leading our players and our organization. Our fans have stood by us and persevered through every challenge, and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operational structure is strong, focused, aligned and energized for the future."
Now, when the players return to the facilities on Monday, a new interim head coach will be leading the team. After making the decision, it was announced that offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will take over head coaching duties for the remainder of the season, his second staff promotion of the month.
The Bears have been pleased with Brown's leadership since taking over as the team's offensive coordinator on November 12th. Brown will now be in charge of leading the entire team over the final five regular season games.
The decision to part ways with Eberflus comes one day after the team's sixth consecutive loss, four of which were decided by one possession. Under Eberflus, the Bears are 14-32 since 2022 including 5-19 in one-score games.
Thursday's loss, and how the team lost, was the last straw for Eberflus. On the final drive of the game, in field goal range down three points, the Bears' offense allowed time to expire on the last play despite having one timeout remaining.
After the game and again on Friday, Eberflus defended how the final seconds played out and took full blame for the result of the game.
The Bears will now enter into the offseason in search of the next head coach to lead the team with franchise quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams will now become Chicago's third straight first round quarterback to have a second head coach going into his second NFL season.
Other NFL teams are using the Bears’ late game decision-making on Thanksgiving as an example of what not to do in that situation
Some teams are smarter than others.
