With the Bears on their bye week, they’ll return for a five-game stretch to finish the season that could dictate their future. General manager Ryan Poles, coach Matt Eberflus, quarterback Justin Fields and others have a ton riding on this. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser, Patrick Finley and Mark Potash break down what’s at stake:
How can Eberflus prove he deserves another year?
Lieser: By intervening in the offense. It’s great that he’s showing so much creativity and getting good results as the defensive play caller, but that just makes him a good defensive coordinator. Eberflus promised to be a head coach over the entire football operation and acknowledged when he got hired he’d be responsible for the offense. It has been needing his attention all season.
Finley: Eberflus is the Bears’ defensive play-caller. If the defense continues to dominate, he can point to his bosses at the end of the season and say something Matt Nagy never could — that the Bears were the best at the thing he was best at.
Potash: When Poles was asked prior to the season what his definition of progress was, he said, “Win more games.” Eberflus already has done that, with four. He realistically still needs a signature win against a team that isn’t going to fire the coach or bench the quarterback. But, based on Poles’ low bar, it won’t take much for him to claim “progress” and keep his hand-picked guy for 2024. Six wins likely will do that.
