Sometimes, Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus says something that stops me in my tracks and makes me think to myself I can’t believe they put an open mic in front of this guy every week.
The weekly day-after press conference usually allows Eberflus to reflect on what happened in the previous game. After sleeping on it and reviewing the game film, Eberflus returns to Halas Hall to share his findings. But during his Monday press availability, Eberflus’ reflections left me confused. When asked about what he could have done differently in a close loss, Eberflus references decisions that he got right — including a call-back to a game the Bears lost. You’ve gotta watch and hear this:
“You always look at things. Should I have called this? Should I have called that? Should I be more aggressive here? Less aggressive there? It’s like when you have the end of the half at the New Orleans game. They went three-and-out or maybe four-and-out. That was good execution by the players. It was a good call by whoever the defensive coordinator was. And that would be me. For the Carolina game, to seal the deal in that game, there were some good calls and good execution. That’s what it comes down to. You’ve got to have the right calls and put your guys in position. It’s about putting guys in position and making plays as a player.”
If this is what it sounds like when Matt Eberflus is coaching for his future … YIKES!
De-coding Matt Eberflus’ comments
On the one hand, I’m glad Eberflus understands that it’s all about putting players in a position to succeed. And it seems as if he gets that he is the one responsible for putting his players in those positions. But on the other hand, Eberflus’ recollection of what happened at the end of the first half against the Saints is completely wrong. And if I had a third hand, I’d use it to point out that the success story from the Panthers game is a result of Carolina missing a deep and desperate field goal.
The Saints didn’t go three-and-out to end the half. They gained 31 yards on 5 plays in 28 seconds. You can check . Poor clock management, play design, execution, and the Saints simply running out of time played more of a factor in New Orleans not scoring in that end-of-half situation than whatever calls Eberflus was making as the defensive coordinator. As for the Panthers game, I agree with Eberflus that players and coaches deserve credit. But also, we should keep in mind that the Panthers are bad and I don’t want to give too much credit for stopping a team that does a whole lot to stop itself every week.
And to think, those might not have been Eberflus’ most troubling comments. When asked about why defensive end Montez Sweat played just 63 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, Eberflus’ response is eye-roll inducing:
I wonder how Bears General Manager Ryan Poles feels about seeing his $98 million dollar defensive end put into a pla😼toon. Probably♏ how I felt when seeing about Sweat not being on the field for a Lions red-zone touchdown.
OPINION: I’ve Had Just About Enough of Matt Eberflus and His Basic Communication Failures
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that Sweat isn’t going to play every snap of all 17 games in a given season. There needs to be rest and rotations. And I get that Sweat can pull himself out of the game if and when he deems it necessary. But when handed that information, I still find myself struggling to understand how Sweat’s availability for red zone defensive snaps wasn’t a priority. It should be a given that your best defensive lineman is available and on the field for those snaps. I’m almost at a loss for words at this point as I search for worthwhile explanations in my attempts to translate Eberflus’ words.
In the end, I wish I had better news to share. I wish I was better at de-coding what Eberflus has to say. But more than that, I wish Eberflus had better explanations. There are only six more games to go this season. And if we’re fortunate, just six more games for the Eberflus era as Bears head coach.
