Following national disaster, Chicago Bears make historic decision in firing Matt Eberflus
Thanksgiving is often a time when there are many polarizing takes at the family dinner table but thanks to Matt Eberflus' latest embarrassment as the Chicago Bears' head coach, there was a universal agreement at tables across America on Thursday that Eberflus needed to be fired immediately.
For the first time in the history of their organization, the Bears have fired a head coach in-season. The move to fired Eberflus in-season comes only three weeks after the organization made another first in firing an offensive coordinator in-season.
The decision to fire Eberflus arrives after the head coach addressed reporters on Friday morning. During the press conference, Eberflus stopped short of confirming he would be the head coach for the Bears' game against the San Francisco 49ers while also saying he has a meeting scheduled with Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren on Friday afternoon.
Eberflus finishes his tenure with the Bears with 45 games as the team's head coach with a record of 14-31. While the Eberflus defenders, not that there are any left after Thursday's moment of incompetence, will point to the Bears rebuilding during his first season as a reason why his record can't be taken at face value, the fact is the past six weeks have each featured a coaching decision made by Eberflus that had a direct correlation to the Bears losing.
While the McCaskey Family has used the idea of the Bears never firing a head coach in-season as a false sense of pride, the fact remains that the organization lost all their pride immediately following the game against the Lions. Among the national pundits; among the Bears' beat writers; Among even the Bears' players, there was not a single defender of Eberflus.
When Ryan Poles talked about setting the Bears in a new direction and not talking about the team's history, this likely is not the outcome he had for the Bears' 2024 season. Eberflus became the only head coach to be fired in-season while Poles must come to grips with the reality of his mistake. The outcome of Eberflus not being fired last January only to be fired within the same calendar year is the reason why Caleb Williams may have had reservations about joining the Bears' organization. Poles will now get one opportunity to correct that mistake and hiring Eberflus' replacement is a decision he can't afford to get wrong.