At this point, running down exactly how Matt Eberflus continues to blow it for the Chicago Bears feels like an exhaustive task. It almost seems like he’s inventing ways for the Bears to lose, and after heroic Caleb Williams performances, no less.
But, oh my goodness, the way Eberflus threw away another possible Bears victory on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions might take the cake for all of his failures.
Let’s take it to the end of the fourth quarter.
After the Lions and Penei Sewell turned in a dominant first-half performance, the Bears defense began to hem Detroit in. More importantly, Williams had been sublime, delivering heroic throw after heroic throw in a confident manner that really does make him seem like the NFL’s next superstar quarterback.
On a possession where the Bears started at their own one-yard line down 23-20, Williams comfortably got them into field goal range at the Lions’ 25-yard line. From that point on, most functional teams with responsible leadership as their coach would probably win or at least get the game-tying field goal attempt out of it. Right?
Uh … right?
Let me introduce you to Matt Eberflus’ Chicago Bears.
An illegal hands-to-the-face penalty knocked out a Keenan Allen catch into the deep red zone. Williams took a sack on second and very long and seemed a tad out of sorts. Fortunately, the Bears had a timeout and could set up their game-tying field goal try while calming everything down.
Eberflus did not do that. He watched Williams hurriedly get everyone on Bears offense into position. It looked a lot more confusing and chaotic than it will ever read, trust me. Instead of taking a timeout and perhaps running a gimme play to get a closer field goal, Eberflus watched a frazzled Williams throw a deep pass to nowhere for the loss.
That’s right. Eberflus watched 36 seconds tick off the clock — with a timeout in hand — in field goal range. To lose the game.
It’s one of the most baffling end-game sequences you’ll ever see. While this doesn’t absolve Williams perhaps taking a timeout himself, it’s still on someone else to step up and back him up. Someone on the sideline who should be actively managing the game.
It’s so perfect for a coach who has no nerve or confidence in the clutch at a historically low level:
"I can't believe they didn't take a timeout!"
Lions win in a CRAZY finish over the Bears 😮 pic.twitter.com/iLqZLMKpDh
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 28, 2024
I mean, what else can you say about the Bears’ futility with the game on the line under Eberflus’ guidance?
I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a team combust like this in a creative fashion the way they do. Every time the Bears have a potential win on tap in a close ending, Eberflus freezes like a deer in headlights. No matter how well the Bears defense plays, no matter how quarterbacks like Justin Fields then and Caleb Williams now play, Eberflus seemingly cannot steel up the cool-headed confidence to preserve his players’ efforts.
In the postgame, Nate Burleson said he’d never call for someone’s job, but he did mention how coaches lose their jobs over things like what the Bears did.
He’s not wrong:
"Your responsibility is to not panic in critical situations… That's a massive, massive fail by Matt Eberflus."@M_Ryan02 cannot believe the Bears' clock management at the end of their loss 😬 pic.twitter.com/aXwXoEc4Ju
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 28, 2024
The Bears have never fired a coach midseason. If they don’t do it after their current guy threw away yet another win in front of a national audience, they’ll keep putting Eberflus’ clutch-time anxiousness on an alarming display for everyone to see.
I’ve written some version of “fire Eberflus” for weeks now. But Thanksgiving exceeded all of that madness and then some.
Someone as good as Caleb Williams deserves better than Matt Eberflus. Really, so do the Bears. We’ll see whether they realize that soon.
