Bears HC explains how he messed up a big opportunity vs. Seahawks
Don't look now, but the Chicago Bears are 2-0 in the preseason after defeating the Seattle Seahawks, 27-11, on Thursday night. Sure, it's preseason and it means bascially nothing regarding real implications. It's always tough to decide what preseason stock should be bought and which should be avoided. But one area that can be properly […]
Don't look now, but the Chicago Bears are 2-0 in the preseason after defeating the Seattle Seahawks, 27-11, on Thursday night.
Sure, it's preseason and it means bascially nothing regarding real implications. It's always tough to decide what preseason stock should be bought and which should be avoided.
But one area that can be properly evaluated, for the most part, is the in-game decision-making of the coaching staff. Especially in situational ball.
On Thursday night, Matt Eberflus received an F for failing to challenge what would've been a highlight-reel play.
It was 3rd and 8 from the Bears 33 and quarterback Trevor Siemian kept an errant snap from flying over his head by barely grabbing it with one hand. He was able to reel the ball in and control it just enough to get a pass off to Isaiah Coulter on the right sideline.
Coulter made what looked like an amazing grab, but it was initially ruled incomplete. However, upon replay, it became obvious Coulter made the grab.
But Eberflus didn't challenge and the Bears punted the ball away on the next play.
It was a rather baffling decision and one that raises some eyebrows when it comes to Eberflus' in-game decision-making.
The first-year head coached explained why he didn't challenge the play after the game.
“So on that one, that’s a good question because a couple of coaches on the sideline thought it bounced on the ground,” Eberflus told reporters after the game. “We got one good look upstairs and that was it, so we didn’t have a second look at it. So, we just decided to let it go. In real time, in a real game maybe I would have thrown it in there, but we didn’t have a second look.”
It's hard to buy into Eberflus' reasoning that the team didn't have a second look at the play.
Case in point: The Bears ran the play clock all the way down to zero, which subsequently caused a false start. It's almost unfathomable to think they didn't have a chance to look at the play more than once in 40 seconds.
And it didn't take someone with eagle-eye vision to see the pass was completed. Granted, a commentator's opinion isn't the always the end-all-be-all, however, the entire booth was in agreement that it was a catch almost immediately after the replay came on TV.
None of this means Eberflus is destined to be a bad coach or can't be a great coach. However, it's something that will certainly magnify future in-game decisions.
Eberflus missed a golden opportunity to extend the Bears drive. This can't happen during the regular season. Whatever it was that caused him to keep the flag in his pocket needs to be extinguished, quickly.
You can check out Eberflus' presser below:
Featured image via Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
