Matt Eberflus survived Black Monday and appears to be safe as the Chicago Bears head coach on Black Friday, too.
Less than 24 hours after Eberflus experienced a six straight defeat and third consecutive loss decided on the final play, the third-year coach conveyed plans to conduct business as usual before a Friday afternoon meeting with team president Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles.
“The operation has been normal,” Eberflus said of his plans for Friday in the office with players home for the long weekend before returning to practice Monday.
The Bears have never fired a coach in-season and Eberflus indicated he doesn’t expect to be the first.
“I’m confident that I’ll be working on to San Francisco and getting ready for that game,” Eberflus said, pointing to the Week 14 matchup with the 49ers. He won his coaching debut with the Bears, 19-10, in 2022 but is 13-32 since.
On Thursday, Chicago lost 23-20 at Detroit, rallying from a dormant first half and had the ball in field-goal range when quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked. In a sequence that began with 32 seconds on the game clock, the Bears had options. They could have spiked the ball to stop the clock, attempting what would have been around a 60-yard field goal or going for a first down with plenty of time to “clock” the ball.
Another option Eberflus chose not to use was calling a timeout.
Instead, the ball was snapped 28 seconds later and Williams heaved an incompletion down the right sideline as time expired.
Media members repeatedly have questioned Eberflus in press conference settings about taking personal accountability. But on Friday he said the Bears handled the final sequence appropriately and “the operation wasn’t fast enough.”
Wide receiver Keenan Allen said Thursday afternoon that “we did enough as players to win the game.”
Williams said the timeout call wasn’t his to make.
“We can call a timeout there or we cannot,” he said. “I’m not going to say I was surprised. My job is just to go out there and make plays. I let the coaches and everybody make that decision – it is their call. Maybe in the later years of my career, it will be my call.”
Poles paid a personal visit to Williams in the locker room for a discussion, and Warren stood watch to take in the wide-lens scene of the locker room packing to return to Chicago with an 0-3 record in the NFC North. The Bears had chances to beat all three division opponents but the Packers blocked a game-winning FG attempt by Cairo Santos, the Vikings escaped Chicago with a 30-27 overtime win and the Lions wriggled away Thanksgiving Day with Chicago more than threatening in the final minute.
When Poles and Warren meet with Eberflus, and Bears chairman George McCaskey joins the discussion as he did in January with support for Eberflus to return, they will likely incorporate what they’ve heard from players in the locker room. It’s also fair to presume they’re listening to open discussion from Eberflus’ peers on the late-game braincramp.
New England Patriots first-year coach Jerod Mayo stepped away from the final minute of the Bears’ loss on CBS Thursday to talk to his coaches and support staff about the time management elements in play and how they would navigate the situation.
“I probably would’ve handled it a little bit differently,” Mayo said.
