The list of disasters Matt Eberflus has survived for two and a half seasons to remain the head coach of the bears is remarkable.
Imagine walking into Halas Hall as an objective observer and seeing the negative side of the ledger stacked with a franchise-worst 14-game losing streak, two assistant coaches fired for non-football reasons, two offensive coordinator misfires, a failure to this point to bring out the best in two first-round quarterbacks, team captains publicly objecting to various decisions, and a string of episodes where going to a microphone only got worse.
Yuk. That’s a lot.
Sometimes what doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger. It only pushes you closer to getting fired.
Eberflus is back on the sidelines once again – he’s lived there almost his entire time – as the Bears wobble into their Sunday home game against the Patriots woefully underachieving at 4-4. They’ve already squandered their chance to pile up wins and gain margin in the first half of the season, which featured a much, much easier schedule than what they’re about to face.
The Patriots are the worst team in the NFL, and even then, who’s ready to bet their mortgage payment on Eberflus and the Bears handling them?
Even if they beat the 2-7 Patriots like any decent team — even the Titans and Jaguars beat them recently — don’t let that distract you. The Bears already struck fool’s gold with a three-game winning streak against weak opponents and was revealed the moment it got even a little tougher.
And it’s about to get a lot tougher.
For those who want Eberflus fired, it certainly looks like the schedule is about to take care of that. The Bears have all six NFC North games remaining, and each of the three teams is on track for the playoffs. There’s a visit to the 49ers, who are struggling but still potentially a powerhouse, and the Bears’ easiest remaining game after Sunday is far from easy: a Week 17 Thursday night game against the Seahawks.
There’s nothing about this season or Eberflu’s overall body of work that suggests the Bears can stay afloat in these waters, let alone sail to a playoff spot. ESPN’s latest forecast pegged their postseason chances at 14%. It was 7% in The New York Times with minimal changes predicted if they beat the Patriots.
Much like former Bears quarterback Justin Fields when he hit a home run last season, Eberflus would have to show something completely different than what he’s put on paper thus far for the organization to justify bringing him back. His career-best eight-game stretch is 5-3, and most of that was against non-playoff teams. He needs to match or surpass that in the last eight for this season to be a success.
That would require a definitive rise from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, whose development is by far the biggest variable in the equation, and an offensive revolution at large.
It doesn’t matter how good Eberflu’s defense is if that doesn’t happen. A defensive minded head coach can be fired for the failure. It’s part of the job.
Evidence that he can turn it around is scant. He faltered often last season, starting 0-4 and blowing three big leads in the fourth quarter en route to 7-10, and general manager Ryan Poles said in an interview with the Sun-Times this year that he knew he was going against public opinion by bringing him back this season.
But what has changed since then apart from the haircut and the beard? Based on the first eight games, not nearly enough.
Williams’ decline after the bye — a 49.2% completion rate and 65.4 passer rating — is just part of the development process for a rookie quarterback, the Bears’ OC said. “What gives me all the confidence in the world in Caleb is his dedication to his craft.”
Jon Hoke said Stevnson handled his benching well Sunday.
Sweat said the injury felt “much better” than it did Sunday.
