Matt Eberflus may walk away from Thanksgiving with nothing to be thankful for.
Fans and the sports world are calling for the head coach to be fired after the Bears lost 23-20 to the Lions in a heartbreaking few seconds in the final series, their sixth straight loss of the season and eighth loss of the season.
The CBS broadcasters were unable to overcome Eberflus' terrible time management and were unable to call a timeout to end the game.
“As a head coach, this is unacceptable,” Matt Ryan said on the post-game broadcast. “Your responsibility is to not panic in key situations and give your team the best chance to win the game. That's a massive blunder by Matt Eberflus.”
“It's not their fault. They made a mistake on the penalty,” Burleson added. “But on the coaching side, this was a breakdown in time management. I'm not trying to demand anyone's work, but these late-game decisions, or lack thereof, caused people to be fired.”
Bill Cowher was also quick to point out that this wasn't Eberflus' first late-game blunder, with quarterback Caleb Williams being sacked and Eberflus calling a timeout with 36 seconds left to rebuild the offense. He pointed out that he could not request that.
“If we hit third-and-26, execute the next play and get in field goal range, we have plenty of time to run out the field goal unit,” Cowher said.
Many top sports figures also reached out to X for his opinion after this heartbreaking loss.
“Eberflus is my favorite bad coach. He's so funny that he needs to be extended for two years.” Ringer founder Bill Simmons wrote about X.
“Matt Eberflus just made a mistake on Thanksgiving that he may never recover from.” RGIII wrote to X. “You can't finish games with timeouts. He's been coaching like he's in the hot seat under pressure, and he's missed the most important moments all year. The cycle repeats.”
Mike Greenberg added: “There is absolutely no excuse for a #NFL coach to tolerate something like that. There is no excuse for a high school coach. Pocket the timeouts. Inexcusable. In a season full of coaching mistakes, this is the lowest ever. It was.”
Eberflus is in his third season in Chicago and has yet to lead the team to a winning season. The Bears went 3-14 in his first year under center Justin Fields, but didn't improve much the following year with a 7-10 season.
They selected Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft, but the Bears have yet to find their groove following a 4-8 season.
Prior to joining Chicago, Eberflus served as the Colts' defensive coordinator for four seasons, including two playoff appearances.
“Everflus, who didn't realize there was no timeout, should be in the final moments of his coaching career with the Bears.” Posted by Nick Wright of First Things First.
