Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is only fooling himself

Matt Eberflus is spinning the story that the Chicago Bears are winning after yet another heartbreaking loss caused by fearful coaching, but Bears supporters are fed up with being duped.

Matt Eberflus must be fired. I don’t care if he’s going to his house to spend more time with his family, to another NFL team as a defensive coordinator, or to the neighborhood Portillo’s to make some Italian beef sandwiches for the good people of Chicago. He is clearly unfit to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears, and this has been the case for some time.

In his nearly two years as Chicago’s leader, Eberflus is 6-22. He has never won a single division game or two games in a row. It is nearly impossible to accomplish that. The main reason I couldn’t name the most embarrassing Bears loss under Eberflus is that we’ve long since moved past the point where fans could tell the difference between our weekly gut punches. Both my brother and father were firemen. They’ll tell you if you ask them: after a certain number of dumpster fires, they all start to look the same.

However, if you listen to Eberflus during his press conferences after games, you would believe that everything is fine. If you find that phrase archaic, it’s because I’m attempting to employ the slang from the last historical instance in which Eberflus’ football philosophy—take the ball out of your quarterback’s hands, run the clock, and play prevent defense when you have a lead—might have been the equivalent of the cat’s pajamas, daddy-o.

Recalling the meme in which a weary man says, “Stop giving me your toughest battles,” to which Jesus responds, “How are you still alive?” Eberflus said, “We’ve had a lot of adversity as the Chicago Bears, and it’s only going to make us tougher,” following the game. When will the Bears have faced enough hardship? The Bears’ 28 games under Eberflus represent the lowest point of this century, and Sunday’s loss might have been the worst yet. This once-proud team has only finished above.500 once in the last ten years.

How can Bears fans expect Matt Eberflus to lead the team to a.500 record, let alone the Super Bowl, if he is incapable of winning when the team performs this well?
The Bears’ game on Sunday had a lot to be happy about. As a runner, Justin Fields exuded confidence and looked electric in the pocket. Roschon Johnson, D’Onta Foreman (prior to his injury), and Khalil Herbert all fiercely finished each run. The defense, which has subtly improved over the past month, turned in its best game of the year, picking off three interceptions from Jared Goff and recovering a fumble. On a fantastic play, recent addition Montez Sweat recorded his first sack.

And yet, the Bears suffered another defeat; their fearful, fearless coaching allowed them to blow a twelve-point lead in less than four minutes. Despite having expressed confidence in Justin Fields in the week before his return as a starter and Fields doing nothing to contradict that confidence in the first forty-five minutes of the game, Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy parked the bus in the fourth quarter, refusing to let Fields throw the ball.

With 4:15 remaining in the game, the Bears had just made another field goal to extend their lead to 12 points and were still in complete control of the contest. After pressuring and forcing quarterback Jared Goff to make contested throws over the middle of the field all day, the defense suddenly withdrew, allowing

The Bears ran the NFL’s most popular play, the “tush push,” on a third and 1 early in the fourth quarter, giving bears fans their first hint that Eberflus was using his trademark “coach not to lose” approach. The Bears tried it, probably because Eberflus likes the rhyme, even though they had failed to execute the same play earlier in the season and had a third-string center snapping the ball who had obviously struggled all day to get on the same page as Fields. Unsurprisingly, the sneak did not work, and Eberflus scored a field goal to put the score up to nine.

With 4:15 remaining in the game, the Bears had just made another field goal to extend their lead to 12 points and were still in complete control of the contest. The Bears supporters initially noticed that Eberflus was using his trademark “coach not to lose” approach when the team executed the NFL’s most popular play, the “tush push,” on a third and 1 early in the fourth quarter. The Bears tried it, probably because Eberflus likes the way it rhymes, despite having to use a third-string center who had obviously struggled all day to get on the same page as Fields, and despite failing to execute the same play earlier in the season. Unsurprisingly, the sneak failed, and Eberflus put the score up to nine with a field goal.

With 4:15 remaining, the Bears had just kicked another field goal to create a 12-point lead and were still in complete control of the game.

With 2:59 remaining, the Bears were ahead five points despite this coaching error; they only needed to score two first downs to end the clock and win the game. The Bears dug deep into their trick bag to call two straight handoffs up the middle as the Lions were packing the box. Even though Ann Arbor is only a short distance from Detroit, the Lions were able to determine what calls were coming in without the assistance of Wolverine secret agent Connor Stalions. Even worse, Fields had over 100 yards rushing on his own, but he was not allowed to have his own play made.

On third down, Fields found rookie receiver Tyler Scott deep downfield with a dime, but Scott mysteriously stopped mid-route, almost taking the game to a new level. The Bears had to punt because by the time he picked up speed again, he was unable to reach the precisely positioned ball.

Once that third-down pass hit the Ford Field turf without incident, every Bears fan had already come to terms with their fate. Our hearts were torn out as we watched the Bears once again stand by and let Goff destroy them with no opposition at all, even though we had seen this script play out far too often.

On what was supposedly the last play of the game, Aidan Hutchinson beat Darnell Wright and stripped Fields for a safety, but after the way he and Getsy took the ball out of Fields’ hands when the game could have been sealed, it was almost as if Eberflus had recorded the strip sack himself.

There was plenty for the team to improve upon, as Eberflus correctly pointed out in his press conference following the game. Fields was a two-way threat. Goff endured a miserable day from the defense until Eberflus decided to give up. Once more, D.J. Moore demonstrated why he’s the best receiver for the Bears since Brandon Marshall.

The Bears have a lot of pieces in place to build around, that much is clear. On their home field, they had a 7-2 team that was under pressure. They will have the most cap space in the league and two excellent first-round draft picks to work with in 2019. There has never been a clearer picture of what this team is capable of—and, perhaps more importantly, what is preventing it.

Eberflus was correct when he stated that the team had a lot of room to improve during his press conference following the game. Fields was a dynamic two-threat player. Until Eberflus pulled the plug, the defense kept Goff miserable all day. It was evident once more by D.J. Moore why he is the best Bears receiver since Brandon Marshall.

Without question, the Bears have a lot of solid foundational pieces. On their home field, they were up against a 7-2 team. Next year, they will have the most cap space in the league along with two highly anticipated first-round draft selections. Never before has it been so evident what this team is capable of and, equally as important, what is keeping it from succeeding. It isn’t Matt Eberflus

It makes no difference that Matt Eberflus’s hollow platitudes are dismissed by Bears fans after every game. Even if Eberflus believes his own meaningless words, it doesn’t matter. What counts is that Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren put the franchise’s interests ahead of Eberflus’s cheap motivational speaker act. Perhaps this week, perhaps at the conclusion of the season. In any case, Matt Eberflus must be fired.