NFL Exec Openly Says Matt Eberflus Is Holding The Bears Back
When Ryan Poles took over as GM, he knew what he wanted as a head coach. During his brief playing career in 2008, he got to experience Lovie Smith and his influence on the Chicago Bears. Given the former head coach’s success during his stint with the team, Poles felt he needed to find somebody with similar convictions and teaching philosophies. It didn’t take long to recognize Matt Eberflus embodied those ideals. Everything from his H.I.T.S principle to his demand for accountability lined up.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the same era Smith thrived in. Defense still meant something in the 2000s. Rules allowed teams to control games on that side of the ball. It isn’t this way anymore. You need a productive passing attack to function in today’s NFL. That was the big fear with Eberflus. That he would run into the same problems Smith did at cultivating that position. The past 37 games have done nothing to assuage those fears. Mike Sando of The Athletic spoke to an exec from another team who stated unequivocally that Eberflus is holding the team back.
“The media gets excited, the personnel people get excited and people expect that guy to come in and just tear it up,” a former head coach said. “They did a good job putting people around him. I do not think the offensive line is very good.”
And that is the No. 1 issue, but in a division featuring LaFleur, O’Connell and the Lions’ Ben Johnson at the offensive play-calling controls, the Bears are the obvious outlier.
“The Bears’ problems, in my opinion, start with the offensive line and the construction of it,” an evaluator said. “Then it’s Waldron, especially when you look at the other coordinators in the division. He is clearly fourth. The head coach is fourth. Right now, the quarterback is surviving on his own.”
Matt Eberflus is failing his primary mission this season.
That was ensuring he could put an environment around incoming quarterback Caleb Williams that would help the rookie thrive. Instead, it has been the exact opposite. The Bears are 30th in rushing and have allowed 13 sacks through three games. They also have two dropped passes that would’ve been touchdowns. This is the same sloppy operation that bedeviled the Bears last year despite replacing offensive coordinators. It is time to start accepting that Eberflus deserves more ownership of this.
Many people weren’t happy about the hire in 2022 because they felt he would be another good defensive coordinator who wouldn’t know how to foster an environment of growth on the offensive side. Try as he might, their predictions remain true. Though Williams is improving each week, it hasn’t been because he is getting plenty of help from the coaching. It’s almost been in spite of it. Poles gave Matt Eberflus a reprieve despite calls to fire him this past off-season. He is slowly wasting his golden opportunity.