The Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday, a day after mismanagement of time in the second half of a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
The loss dropped Chicago to 4-8 and likely eliminated them from playoff contention barring a miraculous run, but it also gives the team an early advantage in finding a new coach. This is one of the reasons why he decided to change coaches now. NFL Network reported.
Despite this, Bears officials still let Eberflus speak to the media hours before firing him. According to Tom Pelissero.
According to reports, the Bears' brain trust, consisting of chairman George McCaskey, president Kevin Warren, and general manager Ryan Pauls, had just begun a meeting that lasted “several hours.”
The meeting coincided with Everflus' press conference, which was set at a regularly scheduled time.
Mr. Pelissero said that if the reporter had been late, it would likely have meant that the change had been decided, but the decision is believed to have been made during the meeting, which ended well after what became Eberflus' last speech. He pointed out that he did.
Eberflus, who had a 14-32 record during his time with the Bears, was fired before completing his third full season as the team's coach.
The rising defensive mind was hired in 2022 after serving as the Indianapolis Colts' defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021.
He was the linebackers coach for the Dallas Cowboys from 2011 to 2017.
The Bears' next game will be against the San Francisco 49ers on December 8th.
Former NFL running back Thomas Brown will serve as interim head coach.
Brown was hired as the team's passing game coordinator in January and was promoted to offensive coordinator after former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired more than two weeks ago.
