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Matt Eberflus' Insane Postgame Quote Proves He Must Be Fired

Matt Eberflus doubled down on his mistake that cost the Chicago Bears the game on Thursday, taking no accountability.

By Jason Schandl

Oct 13, 2024; London, United Kingdom; Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus watches from the sidelines against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second half during an NFL International Series game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Oct 13, 2024; London, United Kingdom; Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus watches from the sidelines against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second half during an NFL International Series game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Teven Jenkins shouldn't have commit that penalty. Larry Borom should have blocked Za'Darius Smith on the Caleb Williams sack. The Bears got some bum luck with an equipment malfunction. But even with all of those factors swirling around, there's one thing that Bears fans (and NFL fans in general) agree upon unanimously: Matt Eberflus singlehandedly ended that game with his absurdly poor clock management decisions. But hey, sometimes people make mistakes. If you thought he was a good coach for the Bears before this, one mistake might not tell you he needs to be fired. Especially if he's willing to learn from the mistake.

Unfortunately, he is absolutely not willing to learn from the mistake. Not only is he refusing to accept fault for the loss, but he's doubled down on his error. Immediately after the game he said that he thinks he handled that situation the right way. Seriously.

What else is there to say at this point? He made a move that 31 other NFL head coaches (and how many dozens of college or even high school coaches?) know was a mistake. It's easy to judge heat-of-the-moment calls from the sideline, sure, but Eberflus also thought it was the right call once he was removed from the heat of the moment. That's not just bad execution — that's bad understanding of the entire situation.

How can you think that a plan that even gave you a chance of letting 29 seconds burn off the clock without calling a timeout would have been good process?

Of course, this is just a perfect highlight of a massive issue that has always plagued Eberflus. He has the absolute worst win percentage in games decided by 7 points or fewer among all 221 coaches who have been in the situation 20-plus times, per Josh Dubow. He just can't handle late-game situations with a close score.

It's not in his skill set, and his post game comments made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of doing the work needed to improve in that area either.

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