The Chicago Bears will have to make some important decisions this offseason, including the future of head coach Matt Eberflus. Despite speculation regarding his future, Bears club president Kevin Warren refused to speculate when asked about it on Friday.
That type of response usually speaks volumes, and if the Bears were serious about bringing him back, they would have said so. That kind of non-answer usually precedes some kind of change that the team just does not want to acknowledge before the season is over. Of course, this is not a given, but the lack of commitment is startling.
Eberflus is in his second season as the Bears’ head coach, and no matter what happens against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the team will finish with a losing record. They did, however, vastly improve from last year’s three-win season and have shown great progress down the stretch, particularly after adding defensive tackle Montez Sweat in a trade deadline deal with the Washington Commanders.
The Bears are 5-2 in their last seven games and have the opportunity to play spoiler against a Packers team that needs a win to make the playoffs.
If Chicago wins and reaches eight victories, it will be a five-game improvement from Eberflus’ first year to his second.
Along with the head coaching decision, the Bears must determine what to do with quarterback Justin Fields and whether to trade the No. 1 overall pick (which they will receive from the Carolina Panthers as part of the transaction for the Bears’ No. 1 overall pick last year). The pick will ultimately be determined by what they do with Fields.
If they elect to keep Fields, trading the pick becomes more plausible. If they determine that Fields is not the answer, it appears that they will maintain the pick and draft a quarterback. All of these decisions will contribute to another exciting offseason in Chicago.
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