As Matt Eberflus is finding out, there are some things Frank Reich can’t teach you in NFL head-coaching school.
Eberflus’ old-school sensibilities are failing him four weeks into his second season as the Bears’ head coach. Revealing as little information as possible and grinding your way out of on-field football issues by staying later, practicing harder and believing in underperforming players not only isn’t working, but it seems to be getting Eberflus deeper and deeper into a muck that he already appears unable to extract himself from.
Eberflus’ plight was in full view again Monday, when he tried to answer literally 20 questions about wide receiver Chase Claypool being sent into a timeout with the same response: ‘‘We just feel that’s best for the team.’’
As Eberflus should have learned when he saw Reich go from Andrew Luck to Jacoby Brissett to Philip Rivers to Carson Wentz in his four seasons as Reich’s defensive coordinator with the Colts, you need Tom Brady or Drew Brees leading your team to get away with that shtick. He has Justin Fields backed up by Tyson Bagent.
After a rookie season in which all he had to do was keep Fields standing and lose with honor, Eberflus’ second season has been one challenging episode after another that has exposed any manager’s fatal flaw: a failure to communicate.
From guard Nate Davis’ absence to defensive coordinator Alan Williams’ resignation to Claypool’s implosion, Eberflus has left Bears fans and reporters wondering what’s going on and why the Bears always make things more difficult than they have to be. And now, with the Bears 0-4 and Eberflus unsuccessfully dodging potholes, they’re wondering about Eberflus more than anyone.
This job looks tougher than he ever imagined. Eberflus might be managing his team well — players still go out of their way to express faith in him, as safety Jaquan Brisker did after the loss Sunday — but coaching in the NFL is a bigger job than managing 53 players, and Eberflus isn’t managing the total job well. Every episode has exposed this weakness a little more, and it is adding up.
And the job doesn’t get any easier. The Bears are 0-4 after losing a 28-7 lead in a 31-28 loss to the previously winless Broncos. Eberflus still is dealing with the fallout of Claypool’s tacit suspension. And he has a short week of preparation before traveling to Washington for a game Thursday against the Commanders, who didn’t allow 70 points last week and don’t have the worst defense in the NFL. Chances are, his pregame chat with Commanders coach Ron Rivera will be about NFL coaching survival. Or it should be. NFL coaching school is always in session.
The Claypool taffy pull with reporters Monday was such that a question about Eberflus’ ill-fated decision to go for a first down on fourth-and-one from the Broncos’ 18-yard line instead of kicking a tiebreaking field goal with 2:57 left in the fourth quarter was almost a breather, not the inquisition that kind of thing has been for coaches before him.
‘‘At that time, we said: ‘We’re going for it. We’re going to seal the game,’ ’’ Eberflus said. ‘‘We’re going to trust our offense. The way they had been playing all day, that’s an important factor. That was the decision we made.’’
Would he do it again?
‘‘Based on the scenario that was there, yes,’’ Eberflus said.
Some think Eberflus should have kicked the field goal. Others say he should have run a better play than a shotgun handoff. Right now, however, he has bigger problems than that. He has to grow into a job he suddenly doesn’t look prepared to handle.
