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Related: About this forumMatt Eberflus' days as Bears coach have to be numbered after awful decision
At some point in the future, Chicago Bears fans will be able to laugh about Matt Eberflus, their old failed head coach, giving away a win against the Denver Broncos. Possibly they'll do so when Caleb Williams is their quarterback. But on Sunday, it was infuriating. Eberflus acted like a coach who was trying to get himself fired.
How else to explain an inexplicable decision Sunday? The Bears had blown a 28-7 second-half lead to the Broncos, but were tied late in the fourth quarter and within field-goal range. The Bears surprisingly left the offense on the field for a fourth-and-1. They tried to get the Broncos to go offsides before calling a timeout. We've seen that before. The Bears then could have brought on the field-goal team for a 35- or 36-yard attempt with 2:57 left. That's the blueprint for that situation.
Nope. The Bears left the offense on the field and running back Khalil Herbert was stuffed for no gain on fourth down. No field goal is automatic, but the Bears probably would have hit that one to take a 31-28 lead. They declined. It was a bizarre decision. Eberflus said he went for it because the Bears were running the ball well, which shows an astounding ignorance of game situation management. The Broncos took the ball downfield after they stopped the fourth down, got their own field goal, then picked off Justin Fields in the final minute. The Broncos improved to 1-3 with the 31-28 win, and the Bears are 0-4.
And next up will be calls for Eberflus, who is 3-18 as Bears head coach, to be fired. The Bears are strangely proud of never firing a coach during a season, though they've had a few coaches who probably deserved to be. That would be the only thing to save Eberflus his job after the start he has had to his career. Giving up the chance to take a lead with less than three minutes left will be a part of his legacy in Chicago. The good part is losing to the Broncos gets the Bears one step closer to the first pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-winners-losers-chicago-bears-coach-matt-eberflus-loss-broncos-113825010.html
bahboo
(16,953 posts)this is setting new standards of suck, even for the Bears...
underpants
(186,672 posts)The Bears are strangely proud of never firing a coach during a season, though they've had a few coaches who probably deserved to be. That would be the only thing to save Eberflus his job after the start he has had to his career. Giving up the chance to take a lead with less than three minutes left will be a part of his legacy in Chicago. The good part is losing to the Broncos gets the Bears one step closer to the first pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
aggiesal
(9,474 posts)Their Bye week isn't until Week 13, they can't wait another 8 weeks to fire during the bye week.
By firing him on Friday, gives the team a full 9 days before they play against the Vikings.