The Chicago Bears made numerous coaching mistakes in their 21-16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, for which coach Matt Eberflus attempted to accept some of the blame during the postgame on September 22.
“That’s on the coaches,” Eberflus said Sunday, referring to squandering a timeout before the Bears attempted a two-point conversion. “We need to improve from top to bottom, from upstairs to downstairs. We have to do better there.”
For the Bears’ second consecutive loss, Eberflus botched timeouts and important game situations, costing them. He requested Cairo Santos to attempt a 56-yard field goal on the edge of his kicking range during their first drive, which dropped short of the goal posts and allowing the Colts to begin their first offensive drive at their own 46-yard line.
Eberflus also used two timeouts during critical periods in the fourth quarter. He squandered the first before a two-point conversion attempt after rookie quarterback Caleb Williams tagged fellow rookie Rome Odunze with a touchdown throw with 8:21 left in the game, attempting to phone in a better play but failing as the Bears ended up with zero points on the play.
Eberflus then called his second of three timeouts with 5:25 remaining on the clock, as the Colts lined up for a third-and-goal from their own 1-yard line. Whatever alterations the Bears made during the stoppage proved ineffective, as the Colts scored quickly afterward.
Eberflus blamed the missed two-point convert on “communication” in the postgame, putting the focus completely on the coaches for the blunder that cost them important points. When questioned on the other difficulties, he mainly deflected them with optimism and coach-isms, raising further doubts about his competence as a head coach.
Matt Eberflus is already on the hot seat with the Bears in 2024.
The Bears’ choice to keep Eberflus as head coach despite a 7-10 record in 2023 was somewhat surprising. He had won just 10 of his first 34 games since taking over the position in 2022, but the team, particularly the defence, had rallied behind him late in his second season, indicating that his culture was finally taking hold.
In January, Bears general manager Ryan Poles justified Eberflus’ retention as follows:
I believe that the head coach should direct the ship through storms and maintain everything calm. When you’re going through a difficult period, you need to stick together. I believe that is a critical component in a large market like this. You need to be strong. If he jumps off a boat and everyone else follows suit, it’s a heated disaster. So stability is a significant part of it.
However, Poles’ vote of confidence did not resonate with the entire fan base. Many questioned whether Eberflus was the correct decision to bring in a new franchise quarterback over the winter, when the Bears were considering what to do with the No. 1 overall selection pick.
After all, if the Bears erroneously maintained Eberflus in 2024 and then fired him in 2025, they would be repeating the franchise’s prior pattern of pairing their rookie quarterback with a lame-duck coach in his first season and then reinventing everything for him in year two.
Unfortunately, the Bears appear to be heading toward the latter scenario just three games into 2024. Eberflus continues to commit game-management mistakes that would have been excusable for a rookie head coach, but are more blatant in Year 3. He has also lacked accountability on most matters, focusing on how “pleased” he is with the progress rather than accepting responsibility for his own teaching blunders.
With 14 games remaining, the Bears still have time to turn things around, but Eberflus’ job could be jeopardized if he can’t help the team break its losing streak.
Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s playcalling raises doubts.
Eberflus is the head coach and bears the majority of the responsibility for what has gone wrong with the Bears in their first three games. Shane Waldron, the team’s new offensive coordinator for the 2024 season, has also contributed to the situation.
Waldron’s first three games were awful. The Bears are the league’s third-worst rushing offence (before Monday night’s games), averaging only 72.7 yards per game in the first three weeks. As a result, the offence has relied largely on Williams, who has the second-most 118 passing attempts in the NFL in three games, as their key playmaker, despite a mediocre line that provides him minimal protection.
The Bears can blame part of their failings on Williams’ rookie learning curve, but Waldron has also made dubious personnel and playcalling mistakes. Nothing better shows his playcalling incompetence than the sequence he initiated on the Bears’ red-zone drive against the Colts in the second quarter, which began at the 4-yard line.
After two straight runs up the middle, Waldron assigned 5-foot-8 DeAndre Carter the responsibility of stopping 267-pound Colts defensive end Tyquan Lewis on Khalil Herbert’s third run up the middle. Carter easily lost the duel, resulting in no gain from the play. He then called a perplexing pistol speed option play to D’Andre Swift on fourth-and-goal, in which the left side of the line failed to establish the edge, resulting in Swift losing 12 yards.
Eberflus defended Waldron’s play-call in the postgame, which is yet another indictment of him as a head coach, but he may not be able to keep it up if Waldron is unable to put together a better plan and get the offence back on track in coming weeks. And if that happens, Waldron’s seat will heat up considerably alongside Eberflus’ seat.
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