This NFL betting trend will leave Chicago Bears fans shook

Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus seemingly received a pass for everything that went wrong for the team during the first two seasons of his tenure.

Sure, in Eberflus's first season, the Bears were designed to be bad, as Ryan Poles tried to improve the team's salary cap position. Still, Eberflus's first season as the Bears' head coach in 2023 was one of the worst seasons in the franchise's history. While there was a 4-game improvement by Eberflus and the Bears in 2024, it was a season that saw the team blow three games where they held two-possession leads in the fourth quarter, and the head coach also had two of his assistants dismissed due to HR-related issues.

That is why there was some surprise when the Bears opted to retain Eberflus for the 2024 season despite a coaching cycle that included several prominent coaches on the market, such as Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel, and Bill Belichick.

Despite that surprise, the conversation surrounding Eberflus appears to be changing given the improved Bears' roster. In fact, as Pro Football Talk notes, Eberflus is currently the betting favorite to win the NFL's Coach of the Year award next season.

Matt Eberflus is getting love from the NFL betting market.

If the Bears find themselves in the playoffs during the 2024 season, it goes without saying that Eberflus will be in the mix for the Coach of the Year award. It's not often a coach goes from being rumored to be fired to being awarded as the league's best coach the following season while remaining with the same team.

But even in Pro Football Talk's story, they mentioned that Eberflus will be fired if the Bears miss the playoffs in 2024.

That doesn't align with what Poles said at the end of the season and the moves that the Bears made this offseason. This would have been the offseason to fire Eberflus if there was any doubt about his status after the 2024 season. Instead, the Bears retained Eberflus while pairing him comfortably with a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams. There is a path toward Eberflus remaining the Bears' head coach after the 2024 season if they miss the playoffs. Where it would become murky for Eberflus is if the floor falls out from under the Bears next season, then sure, a new head coach would likely be in place after next year.