The Bears dealt with their six-game losing streak in a way they’ve never done before — by firing their head coach in the middle of the season.
Matt Ebrerflus was fired Friday, one day after a 23-20 loss to the Lions at Ford Field in which the coach failed to call a timeout as the clock expired and his team had the ball. He had a 14-32 record in three years with the Bears, the third-worst winning percentage in franchise history behind only Abe Gibron and John Fox.
Eberflus was fired just hours after conducting a press conference in which he said Halas Hall was business as usual as he prepared for the 49ers. Players don’t report back to Halas Hall until Monday after their scheduled weekend off.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, who has called plays for only three weeks, was named the interim head coach.
In a statement, general manager Ryan Poles said he met with chairman George McCaskey and president/CEO Kevin Warren on Friday morning before they told Eberflus he was fired.
Warren backed his GM.
“I support Ryan and the decision that was made this morning,” he said in a statement. “We understand how imperative the head coaching role is for building and maintaining a championship-caliber team, leading our players and our organization. Our fans have stood by us and persevered through every challenge, and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operational structure is strong, focused, aligned and energized for the future.”
Eberflus lost 14 consecutive games between 2022 and 2023, but it was the Bears’ disappointing performance this season that doomed the head coach. After adding veterans Keenan Allen, D’Andre Swift, Gerald Everett, Kevin Byard and others with hopes of competing for a playoff spot, the Bears fell out of contention with a midseason slump.
The Bears entered the bye with a 4-2 record after scoring 95 points during a three-game win streak against the bottom-feeding Rams, Panthers and Jaguars. They returned to game action and lost in unbelievable fashion, giving up a 52-yard Hail Mary as time expired to the Commanders. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had his back to the play when it began because he was too busy waving at the crowd. He eventually sprinted toward the play and leaped for the ball when he should have been boxing out Noah Brown, who caught the touchdown.
The Bears lost in Arizona and then to the lowly Patriots at home. That prompted Eberflus to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, replacing him with Brown. That provided an offensive boost, but the Bears lost to the Packers and Vikings nonetheless. The Bears’ game-winning field goal was blocked by the rival Packers as time expired. They lost to the Vikings in overtime. Thursday, Eberflus opted against using his final timeout as quarterback Caleb Williams heaved an incomplete pass that hung in the air until time expired.
Waldron was the second coordinator to leave Halas Hall in the past two seasons; defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned after inappropriate workplace activity last year. The Bears later fired running backs coach David Walker for non-football reasons.
The Bears were awful in close games under Eberflus. He won 22.7% of games decided by seven points or fewer. That’s the worst percentage among the 221 coaches in NFL history who have played at least 20 such games.
Eberflus struggled with the front-facing part of the job, stumbling over explanations in press conferences. He made a concerted effort to improve in that regard this offseason, but still failed in tamping down the Stevenson controversy and other issues.
Just days after Poles was hired in January 2022, he named Eberflus head coach over finalists Dan Quinn and Jim Caldwell. Bears chairman George McCaskey, then-president Ted Phillips and consultant Bill Polian had already conducted head coach interviews. They told Poles the decision was his — whether the candidate had interviewed with the Bears or not — and he chose Eberflus. He and the coach share an agent in former Bears star Trace Armstrong.
Poles decided to keep Eberflus for a third season after he won five of his final eight games last year. Eberflus fired coordinator Luke Getsy and half the offensive staff.
“We had some adversity early in the season, and through the middle of the season, [Eberflus’] ability to stand strong and keep the team together was incredible,” Poles said after deciding to keep Eberflus. “His ability to adapt and adjust as we went along, he had a sudden change in terms of his role, and I thought we benefitted from that, and I thought we got better from that point, and I’m really happy for him.”
Long-term, the Bears figure to turn to an offensive-minded head coach to work with Williams, the No. 1 overall pick of the draft. The Lions’ Ben Johnson figures to be the most popular offensive coordinator on the head coaching market, followed by the Texans’ Bobby Slowik. The Bears interviewed Commanders coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who worked with Williams at USC, as well Bucs coordinator Liam Cohen, when they looked to fill Getsy’s job.
Bill Belichick, who is chasing the NFL’s all-time wins record, is available. So is Mike Vrabel, who went to the playoffs three times in six years with the Titans before losing a power struggle with his general manager last year. Both might require extensive personnel control, something most GMs are loathe to give away.