The Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus following Thursday night’s loss to the Detroit Lions.
Eberfluss and the Bears squandered an opportunity to send the Lions to overtime, neglecting to call a timeout when trailing 23-20 and trying to get into field goal range in the final seconds of the game.
That resulted in Chicago losing its sixth straight as they fell to 4-8 on the year at the bottom of the NFC North.
NFL Network CEO Ian Rapoport confirmed the firing of Eberfluss, who becomes the first head coach in the franchise’s more than 100-year history to be fired midseason.
Thomas Brown will now take over as interim coach, having been promoted to offensive coordinator following the firing of Shane Waldron earlier in the campaign.
Eberflus’ firing came hours after he spoke to reporters about his confidence that he would still be the head coach in Week 14.
He leaves with a 14-32 record after being named head coach in January 2022 after serving as the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator.
The Bears threatened to upset the Super Bowl-chasing Lions on Thursday when they trailed 16-0 after three quarters to get within three points by Dan Campbell thanks to a Caleb Williams-inspired resurgence.. But the clock A terrible example of management would cost them and Eberflus as Williams took a sack in which he was left 32 seconds to 26 seconds off the clock before the Bears finally got their game going, by which time it was too late.
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“I like what we did there,” Eberflus said after the game. “Again, when it’s down to seven (seconds), you’re going to call a timeout there, actually up to 12, and then you don’t really have an option because it’s third (down) on fourth down, you’ve got to throw it into the end zone, then.
“To me, I think we did it the right way, I believe you just review the play, take it in bounds and call a timeout, and that’s why we kept it and it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to “.
It continued its torrid run of form that saw them lose to Washington’s dramatic Hail Mary as well as a Cairo Santos field goal as time expired against the Green Bay Packers.
The Bears are now searching for their 18th head coach as they look to maximize the talent of No. 1 quarterback Williams, who has shown great improvement under center amid the team’s losing streak.
