In a shock, Matt Eberflus has been fired on Friday morning as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. This marks the first time the team has let go of its head coach mid-season. Many Bears fans who watched the team’s Thanksgiving match against the Lions were dumbfounded by the last minute of the game and understand why he was sacked the following day on November 29. Here’s why Eberflus was fired in the 2024 NFL season and replaced by Thomas Brown as interim head coach.
Why was Matt Eberflus fired as the Bears’ head coach?
Eberflus was fired after poor clock mismanagement in the match against the Lions, where the Bears let about 30 seconds pass at the end of the game despite having a timeout in hand and not giving themselves extra yards for a possible game-tying field goal attempt.
It also didn’t help that this loss against the Lions extended the coach’s losing streak to six straight games, many of which ended in embarrassment for the Bears. This includes a Hail Mary pass made by the Commanders in Week 8 for a Bears loss, a blocked field goal that led the Packers to win in Week 11, and an overtime loss to the Vikings in Week 12. In his tenure as head coach for the Bears in January 2022, Eberflus holds a poor 14-32 record.
Apparently, his last-minute debacle in the Lions game was the last straw. The Bears general manager, Ryan Poles, said in a statement on Friday that chairman George McCaskey and president Kevin Warren had decided to “move in a different direction with the leadership of our football team and the head-coaching position.” This decision came just a few hours after Eberflus held a press conference saying he would still be leading the Bears moving forward.
Stepping in as interim head coach will be Thomas Brown, who was elevated to offensive coordinator when Eberflus fired Shane Waldron in Week 11. Brown played professionally in the NFL for the Falcons and Browns, and was the assistant coach for the Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams, and numerous college teams.
