We’ve all seen or heard it right.
An NFL coach or player makes a serious blunder, and overly emotional fans claim the person should be fired right after the game. The outburst is often tied to a lost bet, a bad social media script, or a fan just being a fan.
If ever there was an argument to fire a coach after the game, it was Matt Eberflus after the Chicago managed to screw up the last 30 seconds in the Bears 23-20 loss to Detroit.
The Bears were down by a field goal when Caleb Williams was sacked with around 30 seconds left. Chicago was just outside of field goal range with a timeout left. Williams was trying to implore his team to get back to the line of scrimmage. As the seconds ticked off, it was obvious that the Bears weren’t going to get the ball snapped in a hurry, so most coaches would call a timeout to save time and call a play.
Well, every coach except Eberflus. He never called the timeout, and the Bears snapped the ball when there were six seconds left. The pass was incomplete, and the Eberflus went to the locker room with a timeout dangling in his pocket.
To make matters worse, Eberflus double-downed on his mistake.
“I think we handled it the right way,” said Eberflus after the game.
To say that after what just happened in a fireable offense. In a season where the Bears had already lost on a Hail Mary and blocked field goal, the last thing anyone wanted to hear was Eberflus defend something mind-bogglingly stupid, yet that’s what he did.
After all this team has been through this season, the players in the locker room deserved to have a coach stand up and own the blunder the same way Tyrique Stevenson had to own his.
More than any other sport, football coaches have problems owning their mistakes despite having the level of control they have on all levels, including high school, college, and pro.
The way Eberflus handled the end of the game is indefensible. As indefensible as his response to it.
