CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears have fired their head coach Matt Eberflus Friday, according to the NFL.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will serve as interim coach, the Bears said in a statement.
“This morning … we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the leadership of our football team and the head coaching position,” Bears General Manager Ryan Poles said. “I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and dedication to our organization. We extend our gratitude for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his family the best moving forward.”
Calls for Eberflus to be fired have been growing as the Bears lost their sixth game in a row, after botching a timeout in a loss to Detroit while a national audience watched on Thanksgiving Day.
Eberflus should’ve used Chicago’s final timeout with 32 seconds left to give Williams and the offense an opportunity to reset after the sack. The priority on third-and-26 from the 41 should’ve been to call a short sideline pass to shorten the attempt for a tying field goal. Even a play in the middle of the field would’ve given the special-teams unit ample time to line up for a kick.
Instead, the clock kept ticking. Williams was helped up by two offensive linemen and his teammates lacked urgency lining up for the next play, perhaps thinking a timeout was going to be called. The Bears wasted 26 seconds before the ball was finally snapped to Williams with just 6 seconds to go. His deep pass to Rome Odunze fell incomplete as time expired before Cairo Santos could try a 59-yarder.
The decision not to stop the clock after the sack was inexplicable. Yet, Eberflus defended it.
“I like what we did there,” Eberflus insisted. “I think we handled it the right way. I believe we could re-rack the play and get it done. It just didn’t work out.”
Eberflus was 14-32 in two-plus seasons with the Bears.
