The Bears’ firing of Matt Eberflus was as painful internally as it looked from the outside.
In a scathing ESPN report detailing the moments following the embarrassing ending sequence in the Bears’ Thanksgiving Day loss to the Lions, the now-fired coach only consoled his team for “seconds” before chaos broke out.
One team source told the website that the postgame scene was a “s–t show.”
The volatile locker room, headlined by second-team All-Pro cornerback Jaylon Johnson, interrupted Eberflus’ tone-deaf postgame speech about coming up short.
“There was frustration,” Johnson told WSCR radio in Chicago on Monday. “There was words from myself that I expressed just from my frustration from losing.”
After Johnson’s interruption, Eberflus reportedly cut his message short and walked off.
“You only want to hear it so much,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “Coach is going to say what he’s going to say.”
Chicago had driven the ball down the field to the Detroit 25 with 56 seconds left, primed to at least kick a game-tying field goal and perhaps win the game outright with a touchdown.
A 10-yard penalty followed by rookie quarterback Caleb Williams taking a sack would push them back to the 42-yard line.
When Williams took the sack, they had one timeout with 32 seconds remaining on third down.
Eberflus bizarrely allowed the time to run off and the play did not start until five seconds remained. A deep incompletion to Rome Odunze would end the game and seal the Bears’ sixth straight loss.
After the game, general manager Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren stuck around in the locker room but left after some encouraging words to players.
The next day, Eberflus was allowed to speak with the media for his usual day-after-game media availability, where the Bears coach expressed confidence that he would not be fired and that the end-of-game sequence was handled “the right way.”
The Zoom meeting with the media had “zero” to do with the firing, as ESPN adds that Warren and team brass were simultaneously in meetings deciding the future of their coach.
“I have just learned over my career that it’s important to try to at least get a good night’s sleep, which I don’t think any of us did Thursday night, but at least try to think clearer and be respectful to make better decisions,” Warren said Monday over the timing of the decision.
Williams, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, was also a major piece of the thinking as his first season has included him showing off his potential even as the losses mount.
The Oklahoma and USC standout has played better in recent weeks, throwing five touchdowns to zero interceptions in his last three weeks since the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Chicago lost all those games on the final play against their three NFC North rivals — the Packers, Vikings and Lions.
They’ll face the 49ers, Vikings and Lions in their next three weeks as they look to rebuild their coaching staff this offseason.
Poles told reporters after the firing that he expects the Bears’ head coaching job to be the “most coveted” in the NFL and that he will do the hiring.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
