Bears coach Matt Eberflus sat in the lobby of Halas Hall and, other than being eager to get to practice, seemed comfortable heading into the final game of the season Sunday in Green Bay. As he placed his play sheet on the table and leaned back, he showed no stress about whether he’s about to lose his job.
He has declined to say if he has clarity about his future, but the Bears — 7-9 and winners of five of their last seven — have momentum going into the finale, and so does Eberflus. Everything points to him coming back for a third season.
His tone lately has signaled that as well, and he talked at length with the Sun-Times on Friday about improvements he and general manager Ryan Poles can make going forward.
Eberflus says he sees the Bears trending positively entering an offseason in which they’ll have the No. 1 draft pick and ample salary-cap space. He also took direct account-ability for errors and failures, which included defensive coordinator Alan Williams and running backs coach David Walker leaving the team for non-football reasons, a disconnect between quarterback Justin Fields and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and mishandled news conferences.
“Whether it’s working with a player or working with a decision, a decision that wasn’t as good as we thought it was gonna be, or whatever that is, you have to recognize [the error],” Eberflus said. “Then move forward from that and say, ‘How can I do that better next time?’ That’s a learning process.
“That’s where Ryan and I are really in tune and in step with each other. We’re able to recognize and say, ‘Hey, we can do this better. . . . What’s the plan next time?’ We always have a plan, but if it doesn’t work out, we’re gonna make it better next time we see that scenario.”
Whether Eberflus gets a next time will be determined soon. Asked Friday if he deserved to come back in 2024, he said yes, pointing to improvements in the second half and calling the Bears a team “on the rise.” He said he will welcome meetings with Poles and team president and CEO Kevin Warren and would “feel good” in defending his work.
Warren declined to address Eberflus’ future Friday, other than saying he’ll “take a big-picture, methodical look at everything” and that he’s pleased with the Bears’ energy. Poles hasn’t talked publicly since Nov. 1, when he was supportive even as the Bears, fresh off firing Walker, sat at 2-6 — a situation far bleaker than what they’re facing now.
The biggest question now: If the Bears keep Eberflus, how will he make sure next season is better? His team looked unprepared and lost the first four games this season and endured three epic, late-game collapses — and the offense still isn’t fixed.
Eberflus would be integral in deciding whether Fields and/or Getsy stay. He also would have to hire a defensive coordinator, then decide whether to keep calling the defense himself, even though that runs counter to his professed belief in being a CEO-style coach. He has done well calling plays and said “that’s certainly an option” next season.
Of all the debacles this season, none was as alarming as Williams and Walker leaving — especially Williams, who was on Eberflus’ staff for four seasons with the Colts before he hired him to join the Bears.
“Things are going to get dropped into your workplace sometimes, and they’re unforeseen,” Eberflus said. “It was really good how we handled it internally. Now, the outside part of it, it doesn’t look great. I recognize that. I accept responsibility. And we moved forward, and we made it the best we could, and we’re gonna continue to do that.”
Was it preventable? And, more important, can it be prevented from happening again?
“We did our due diligence in terms of calling people and vetting the candidates,” Eberflus said. “We’ve got to continue to do that and just improve and do it better.”
Neither Eberflus nor the Bears came out looking better when he discussed the Williams and Walker situations in news conferences. That has been a recurring concern.
Eberflus also couldn’t deliver certainty on wide receiver Chase Claypool’s banishment earlier this season and allowed the story to drag on until the Bears traded him. And he spun himself in a circle trying to explain why Fields was listed as doubtful on the injury report for the Panthers game in Week 10 even though he obviously wasn’t going to play.
Eberflus didn’t seem ready for a key part of the job — being the public face and voice of the Bears.
“There were some hard scenarios that were unforeseen, and it’s the first time going through those questions,” he said. “You don’t get those questions on a normal day. . . . The outside perceptions are gonna be what they are, but we stayed positive and worked through it.
“Whether you’re evaluating your press conference or evaluating your call on third-and-six, you’re always gonna say, ‘How can I improve the next time?’ We’ve done that through the course of the year, and we’re gonna continue to do it. It’s important to grow — me as the head coach, Ryan as a GM and us a football team — to get where we want to go to.”
It has been a grueling crawl so far. After Poles demolished the roster in 2022, Eberflus went 3-14 in his first season, saying he knew the Bears were taking a long-game approach to the rebuild. Then, even with an infusion of talent this season, the Bears sputtered early, with a heap of embarrassing losses.
There has been progress, true, but there’s also still much to do. And with more talent likely coming in, the stakes will be even higher next season.
