NFL Rumors: ‘Furious’ Bears Players Called Matt Eberflus Out over Errors vs. Lions
Adam WellsNovember 30, 2024
Quinn Harris/Getty Images
The time mismanagement at the end of Thursday’s 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions was the final straw for Matt Eberflus, but Chicago Bears players had tuned their now-former head coach out before that moment.
Per The Athletic’s Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini, one Bears staff member said players were “furious” over the end of the Lions game because it was “an accumulation of this season.”
Another staffer described the scene in the locker room as “ugly” with “a lot of yelling.”
Even though the Bears did fire Eberflus on Friday, there was some confusion about the timing of their announcement.
Eberflus held his usual day-after press conference with the media on Friday after a usual debriefing session with Bears general manager Ryan Poles and CEO Kevin Warren earlier in the day. He said during the press conference he was “getting ready” to start preparations for the Week 14 game against the San Francisco 49ers.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin noted it was roughly two hours after the press conference that the Bears made the move to fire Eberflus.
Courtney Cronin @CourtneyRCroninJust over 2 hours after the Bears had Matt Eberflus address the media, the team has now fired him. Wow. https://t.co/uAcHiW4333
Jahns and Russini noted Poles, Warren and chairman George McCaskey were meeting during Eberflus’ scheduled press conference and no decision on his future had been made at that point, so they let him speak to the media as if nothing was happening.
There were certainly indications after the Lions game that players were very unhappy with how Eberflus handled the end-of-game situation. Wide receiver Keenan Allen told reporters he felt like “we did enough as players to win the game.”
Caleb Williams said his approach in the moment was to let “coaches make that decision” on whether to call their final timeout or try to run a play.
The Bears were within field-goal range when they got to the Lions’ 25-yard line with 45 seconds remaining. A penalty pushed them back 10 yards and a sack on second down moved them back to the 41-yard line with 33 seconds remaining.
Rather than call a timeout to set up a play that could at least move them closer to set up an easier field goal attempt for Cairo Santos, the offense tried to reset as the clock kept running and they didn’t snap the ball until there were six seconds left to play.
NFL @NFLA wild end to this one. #CHIvsDET pic.twitter.com/zwR7g1Efv9
Williams is certainly at some fault for taking his time in snapping the ball, but the entire situation was set up by Eberflus’ decision to pocket his final timeout.
This was the latest in a series of late-game miscues for the Bears that reflects poorly on the head coach. They have lost six straight games since a 4-2 start, with four of the losses decided on the final play.
Those losses include the Washington Commanders completing a Hail Mary; the Green Bay Packers blocking a field goal attempt as time expired; and a game-winning field goal in overtime by the Minnesota Vikings after the Bears scored 10 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation to tie the score.
Thursday’s loss proved to be too much for Eberflus to overcome. He finished his tenure in Chicago with a 14-32 record in three seasons.
