RC: Eberflus’ handling of Bears’ loss to Lions a ‘fireable finish’ (1:22)
Ryan Clark explains why Matt Eberflus’ mismanagement of the clock against the Lions justifies his firing as Bears head coach. (1:22)
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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterNov 29, 2024, 11:33 AM ET
- Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.
CHICAGO — One day after losing 23-20 to the Detroit Lions, when a myriad of clock management issues cost Chicago an attempt at a comeback, Matt Eberflus remains the head coach of the Bears and said he is going through his “normal” operation.
Eberflus said that he had his routine “debrief” with Bears general manager Ryan Poles and team president/CEO Kevin Warren after the loss and would meet with both men again on Friday afternoon.
Eberflus did not directly answer questions about his job status going forward.
“I’m just going to be working on finishing up this game, doing a good job of evaluating that, our after-action report, as we always do, and then I’ll be working in to San Francisco,” Eberflus said. “Again, those are conversations we’ll have and again I’m confident that I’ll be working on San Francisco and getting ready for that game.”
Bears players were given the weekend off, which is standard after the team plays on a Thursday. Eberflus said he had talked with several players and planned to reach out to others today. While coaches will dissect the loss on Friday and throughout the weekend, the full team will reconvene on Monday.
Eberflus came under intense scrutiny after running out the clock in the final 32 seconds despite having one timeout remaining. Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked for a 6-yard loss on a called run play, and the Bears did not get the ball snapped for another play until 6 seconds remained.
Williams launched a deep ball to rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze that bounced off the turf inside the 5-yard line as time expired.
“Our decision at that point was to be on the ball, hold our timeout, and get the play off at 15 to 10 seconds, in that range, throw it into field-goal range there and then call a timeout and then kick the game[-tying field goal] on fourth down,” Eberflus said on Friday. “The operation wasn’t fast enough, and we didn’t do a good job of executing there in that moment. And that was the decision that we made and went with during that time.”
Eberflus said that he and offensive coordinator Thomas Brown watched tape of Chicago’s final drive together Friday morning and went over what transpired with the Bears’ operation.
“I talked to him about all the details about what the calls in terms of where we were and I thought the operation was good, just the penalties, I thought, put us behind the sticks a couple times there,” Eberflus said. “We were in scoring position and really could have owned the game from there. But again, ultimately all these decisions are my decision. I take full accountability for them and we didn’t get it done. It’s unfortunate for the players, for the fans and again, we’re going to get back to work.”
The loss marked Chicago’s sixth straight and dropped the Bears to 4-8. Eberflus is now 5-19 in one-score games, the worst record by any coach with at least 20 one-score games in NFL history.
The Bears continue their three-game road trip in San Francisco on Dec. 8.
