After the Chicago Bears' offense failed to score a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals last week, there were calls for Matt Eberflus to make a change at offensive coordinator.
The first question that Eberflus was faced with this week was whether Shane Waldron would continue to serve as the team's play-caller. Eberflus gave a public endorsement of Waldron as the team's offensive coordinator and while it was to the dismay of the fanbase, the third-year head coach had no other option.
There have been conflicting reports on Eberflus' job security. While the latest would suggest it is more likely that Eberflus is back next season as the team's head coach, a loss to the Patrios would only make his seat hotter.
If the Bears' offense struggles against the Patriots on Sunday, chances are the calls will grow louder for the team to make a change with their offensive coaching staff. However, as Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic (Subscription Required) points out, removing Waldron is not a move Eberflus would look to make as a way to divert attention from himself.
It’d be hard to see it as a self-preservation move. If the offense is so bad that the play caller has to be fired in-season, what would that mean for the head coach who chose him? But we can’t rule anything out if the offense continues to sputter.
Waldron is trending toward another coordinator hire that Eberflus got wrong. In fact, Eberflus' history would suggest that he is not great at hiring coordinators.
As the Bears embarked this past offseason on the path to handing the organization over to quarterback Caleb Williams. it's becoming more apparent that Eberflus ignored all the warning signs the Seahawks had for why Waldron shouldn't be a team's offensive coordinator.
Eberflus marked his first offensive coordinator hire, Luke Getsy, as the scapegoat for the failures of the team's offense over the last three years. A repeat attempt in making Waldron the scapegoat likely will lead to Eberflus being shown the door as well.