Why Chicago Bears fans cannot trust Matt Eberflus against Arizona Cardinals 

With the Chicago Bears set to take on the Arizona Cardinals, it is an unusual set of circumstances for head coach Matt Eberflus. For just the fifth time in his NFL coaching career, the team that he is leading onto the field will be favored to win a football game. 

The Chicago Bears are favored by the most points ever in the Matt Eberflus era

Fans will think that the Bears being favored means that it is an easy win and one that Eberflus has to be able to hold down, but that has not quite been the case so far in his career. Eberflus has won just one of the four games when he was favored, and he has not covered the spread in any of those games. 

They were favored to beat the Houston Texans last year by three points and won by exactly three. They were favored to beat the Detroit Lions at home last year and lost 31-30, blowing a lead in the fourth quarter. They were favored to win on opening day against Green Bay and got blown out, and they were favored to beat the Carolina Panthers by 3.5 points and only won by three, failing to cover the spread. So, Eberflus is 0-3-1 against the spread and has never beat a team by more than four points when he is the favorite. 

Beyond that, the only wins he has as the favorite are over the Houston Texans, who picked second overall, only behind the Bears, and the Panthers, who are the favorites to pick first. To be fair, the Arizona Cardinals are expected to pick second, but they also may be in a better spot than those Panthers and Texans teams.

The Cardinals feature Kyler Murray, and they are 2-3 since he has been the starter. This is not a team that would pick that high if they had Murray all season. So, this will be the ultimate test for Eberflus. 

He has never been expected to win like this, and when he is expected to win, he very rarely delivers or beats expectations. Can the Chicago Bears win this game by more than a field goal? Can Eberflus win this game at all?