The Chicago Bears made the right decision to fire Matt Eberflus following the team's Thanksgiving day loss to the Detroit Lions. While the move was needed, the short-term impact is being felt.
Eberflus was not a good head coach, but what kept him in his position was his success in calling the Bears' defense. The defense was built in the mold that he wanted to play, so the best play-caller for this unit was always going to be him. With that in mind, the defense falling off a cliff without their head coach should have been expected.
The Bears' defense allowed 30 points once this season with Eberflus as their head coach and the Vikings did that in overtime. In the three games since Eberflus was fired, the Bears have allowed 30 points every week.
A lot of this can be tied to Eberflus, but there are other factors as well. The Bears faced the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings in the past three weeks, which means three of the best offensive play-callers in the NFL.
Besides playing some of the top offensive schemes the Bears have also been short-handed. Jaquan Brisker and Andrew Billings have been out, but with Gervon Dexter out as well, the interior defensive line is absolutely depleted. Not many people could coach around how thin that unit is, and they likely would have faltered with Eberflus as well.
Still, with Eberflus the Bears were in every game. His coaching decisions are why they lost close games every week, but his defense is why the games exposed his poor late-game management skills. The Eberflus era will be looked at in infamy, but it should be acknowledged that he is going to be a fine defensive coordinator sometime soon.