Bears HC Matt Eberflus should consider handing over play calling duties following disappointing loss to Cardinals
The Chicago Bears are going to have to make some kind of change with the coaching staff after another embarrassing loss on the road, and it won't be by firing someone.After hearing from head coach Matt Eberflus following the team's loss to the Arizona Cardinals, it's clear that the main issues holding the team back […]
The Chicago Bears are going to have to make some kind of change with the coaching staff after another embarrassing loss on the road, and it won't be by firing someone.
After hearing from head coach Matt Eberflus following the team's loss to the Arizona Cardinals, it's clear that the main issues holding the team back are coming from the coaches.
It was nice to finally hear Eberflus admit that and take some kind of accountability, but it won't do any good unless changes are made.
And no, the front office isn't going to fire Eberflus, at least not right now. And no, Eberflus isn't going to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after eight games.
The only real change the Bears' coaching staff could and should make would be Eberflus giving up his duties as the defensive play-caller, allowing defensive coordinator Eric Washington to handle the role going forward.
It's clear that Eberflus needs to do a better job of overseeing the entire team and operation on Sunday and two big decisions killed the team in the last two weeks. The first was obviously the Hail Mary allowed in Week 8 to lose the game where Eberflus allowed the Commanders' offense to gain easy yards on the play before and then didn't call a timeout before the final play to gather his unit together.
Then, on Sunday, Eberflus had another bad call that allowed another huge last minute touchdown going into halftime. The Cardinals had the ball on their own 47 with under 20 seconds remaining. Eberflus called a play to defend the pass and the unit allowed a 53-yard touchdown run to give Arizona a 21-9 lead.
“I called a pass pressure, and they ended up running the ball,” Eberflus said after the game. “I can make a better call there. That’s on me.”
On offense, Waldron needs some kind of help with the unit. His play-calling and personnel usage have been horrible and the unit continuously struggles to move the ball and score points, especially early in the game. The issues are clear but no changes have been made to fix them.
Eberflus after the game took full responsibility for the offense's performance as well and added that they need to find answers on that side of the ball. Taking a step back from running the defense could allow him to help with those things on offense.
"Not good enough by the players and coaching staff, everybody's involved," Eberflus added. "That's what I said to the guys in there. We got to take an inward look everybody as we go forward here and working into tomorrow. We've got to find some good answers for putting our guys in position, and got to do a great job of executing."
Washington has done a great job already this season and is more than capable of handling the defensive play-calling duties while defensive line coach Travis Smith handles the rotation of the defensive front.
Right now this seems like the best course of action for the coaching staff because if something doesn't change, tough decisions will have to be made.
Lack of involvement from one of the team’s top weapons proves the Bears’ coaches aren’t learning anything from their mistakes
It shouldn’t be this hard to figure out.
