Week Thirteen: Chicago Bears (4-7) @ Detroit Lions (10-1)

[Dan Gilmore]

As others have mentioned the Bears, with Williams, their defense and a competent coach/front office can be a force in the conference at some point. But reading how many times Williams has been sacked this year, and seeing him take a hit on the Campbell play (and others) makes me wonder if he’s going to get so dinged up that he never reaches his full potential. Not wishing injury on him, just seeing how the current situation puts him in regular violent contact. The Bears are so stupid.

[Motown Bombers]

10 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

I was racking my brain to see if I could remember a case of clock management at the end of a game that was a bad as this was today. I came up with a few moments, but one bout with stupidity stood out in particular. Years ago, Wisconsin was playing Northwestern at home. Wisconsin had the ball with :30 something seconds left in the game. It was 2nd down and Northwestern had no timeouts left to stop the clock. Instead of taking a knee, Barry Alvarez and his OC chose to run the ball. On that very play Ron Dayne fumbled the ball and Northwestern recovered it. They drove down the field, scored, and won the game. Why Wisconsin would have chose to run the ball there was negligent and stupid. 

I'm reminded of the Cowboys-49ers playoff game a couple years ago where the Cowboys ran a QB draw but it took too long and the clock ran out before they could spike it. 

[buddha]

the bears are the dumbest ownership in sports, but even they have to realize keeping eberflus around now isnt worth it.

normally i would say there is no way he's fired but this time might be different.

thr bears being the bears, they would promote the OC, win a couple games down the stretch, and then appoint him as new head coach because "the team really played hard for him."

and then continue to fail.  See Raiders, Las Vegas.

[MichiganCardinal]

This is the same stretch of the season where last year they were looking a little sloppy. Beat by Green Bay on Thanksgiving, a sloppy looking win against New Orleans where they got out to a big lead and then let the Saints back in (kind of like yesterday), and then a 15-point loss to Chicago on the road.

Then they beat up on Denver and put the pedal to the metal entering the playoffs, not really losing again until the NFC Championship Game (unless you count Brad Allen's Dallas special as a loss).

Seasons are long, and I'm not really worried about this team, so long as they can get just a little healthier on the defensive line. How I see it, I think they will probably lose one of the next two (Packers or Bills, preferably Bills), and finish the year 15-2, which should be good enough for the one-seed.

If they're going into the playoffs with the roster close to what it looked like leaving Dallas without Hutch, they can beat any team in the NFL.

[Motor City Sonics]

The Bears have given Matt Eberflus a 4-year extension !

[RatkoVarda]

Miami was useless; come on Arizona, Baltimore and Buffalo!

 

[Motown Bombers]

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Jason_R]

Tough love. I saw elsewhere that they benched him after the personal foul. Not sure if it is true but he earned it. 

[Motown Bombers]

That Za'Darius Smith trade is looking pretty good.

 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Now Caleb can have his third HC and third OC in two years.

[Motown Bombers]

I'll be honest, I would consider Eberflus for defensive coordinator if Glenn moves on. His defenses have largely been good. 

[MichiganCardinal]

4 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I'll be honest, I would consider Eberflus for defensive coordinator if Glenn moves on. His defenses have largely been good. 

I would call Mike Vrabel first, if he doesn't get a HC job.

Another familiar name, Jim Schwartz, if Stefanski gets fired.

[Motown Bombers]

I think it's funny a team that never fires coaches midseason sends him out there to do a press conference and then fires him.

 

[sagnam]

He took the bullet for his QB.

[lordstanley]

As part of his severance, does Eberflus get to take that last timeout with him?

[Hongbit]

14 minutes ago, sagnam said:

He took the bullet for his QB.

Nah, his rookie QB put them in a position to win.   Eberflus took the bullet as he should have.  

Yet another example of the NFL’s Peter Principle dilemma.   Great defense coordinator but completely lacking the very different leadership skills needed to be a head coach.  This was very obvious to anyone that watched Hard Knocks over the summer.  Eberflus is all X and O and very little of anything else.  

Edited November 29, 2024 by Hongbit

[CMRivdogs]

The Bears new interim head coach is their interim offensive coordinator. He's also has had a history with the Rams and Sean McVay in 2020. If the Bears go after Ben Johnson, maybe they take a look at him?

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Have to wonder if Ryan Poles will survive Black Monday.

I think he probably does, if thanks only to the Panthers incompetence. Their team is not bad on paper. But he's not going to survive if the next coach can't figure things out quickly.

[Motown Bombers]

If you are going to make wholesale changes, now would be the time, like Sheila did in 2020. You give yourself a headstart on your GM search and putting together candidates.

[Motown Bombers]

Vildor only allowed two catches for 14 yards. That pass interference penalty was total BS. He actually played well this game. 

[sagnam]

3 hours ago, Hongbit said:

Nah, his rookie QB put them in a position to win.   Eberflus took the bullet as he should have.  

Yet another example of the NFL’s Peter Principle dilemma.   Great defense coordinator but completely lacking the very different leadership skills needed to be a head coach.  This was very obvious to anyone that watched Hard Knocks over the summer.  Eberflus is all X and O and very little of anything else.  

I know you are loyal as a USC fan, but he admitted to changing the play. When everyone else is on the same page you have to lay blame on the one guy who goes off script. It’s ok that Caleb doesn’t understand how to manage the clock. That’s not his job. His job is to get the snap off around 10-15 seconds and pick up 10 yards. That’s it. The coaches will handle the timeouts. He took the game into his own hands and made multiple stupid decisions. His football skills might have gotten them into position to compete, but clearly not his ability to strategize. If he had stuck to what he’s good at they might have taken the game to OT.

 

Either way Eferblus was toast for his entire body of work. Good luck to the next head coach who has to deal with this guy.

[Motor City Sonics]

On 11/28/2024 at 4:00 PM, Motor City Sonics said:

Oh Eberflus is so fired  

I am on a roll !

[Motor City Sonics]

Think about this stretch.  

Lose on a Hail Mary

Lose on a Block Field Goal

Lose in OT after making an amazing comeback to get to OT

Lose with horrendous clock management yesterday. 

The Bears actually SHOULD be 8-4 right now, not 4-8.   Just a slightly more competent Head Coach and they would have won 3 of those games.