In a hiring cycle that has already seen several NFL head coaches relieved of their duties with others potentially to follow, Matt Eberflus is reportedly sticking around for another season leading the Chicago Bears. The franchise appears content to stay the course as others around the league elect to make changes in leadership.
Why Is Matt Eberflus Staying With Chicago?
The Bears reportedly are not making a head coaching change and expect Eberflus to remain the team’s head coach in 2024, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday.
Some expected Eberflus’ time to end after a second straight disappointing season heading up Chicago’s efforts. The Bears went 3-14 in his first year leading the team in 2022 and got out to a rough start to 2023, losing their first four games in a row and opening the year 3-8 overall before finishing the campaign 4-2.
That late surge likely played a role in saving Eberflus’ job, as Chicago seemed to make some strides from its early woes. The team found ways to beat the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona Cardinals while taking competitive losses to the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers.
Thus, giving Eberflus another year following some expected roster improvements this offseason could be justified in the eyes of Bears brass.
The Bears’ strong finish to the season also coincided with Justin Fields being reinserted as the team’s starting quarterback.
Fields had an up-and-down season overall, completing 227 of 370 passes for 2,562 yards, 16 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while also running for 657 yards and four scores. He had a pair of games with four passing touchdowns early in the season, but he otherwise was hit-or-miss as a passer.
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Giving Fields one more year to prove what he is capable of could be part of the reason behind Eberflus getting another season leading the team.
Chicago will have a decision to make at quarterback this offseason, though, as it holds the No. 1 pick in the draft by way of its previous trade with the Carolina Panthers that netted the latter franchise Bryce Young in last year’s draft.
Additionally, the sheer amount of openings this cycle may have deterred the Bears from making a move at head coach. Teams like the Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, and Atlanta Falcons are all making moves at head coach, and those destinations, among others, could potentially be seen as more attractive jobs.
Instead of making a head coaching change, Chicago has instead fired a plethora of assistants, including offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, running backs coach Omar Young, wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert, and assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts.
Eberflus and Co. will now get a chance to reshape the room of offensive assistants to maximize the team’s offensive talent, whether that’s with Fields or another quarterback in the fray.
Either way, the Bears certainly have quite the offseason ahead.
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