It is not ideal that Matt Eberflus is likely to return as head coach of the Chicago Bears next season.
Barring a thorough and absolutely dominating victory by the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the forecast is that Eberflus keeps his job despite having one of the worst head coaching records in team history.
To be fair, Eberflus was handed a roster last season meant to go 3-14. Not even the combination of George Halas and Mike Ditka could have done any better with that horrendous collection of talent. But this season 'Flus is a big reason the Bears got eliminated from the playoffs instead of safely being in.
Three games in which the Bears blew leads in historic fashion is the difference between finishing under .500 and being firmly in the playoffs. Alas, a strong finish to the season is going to buy him another season.
That strong finish is what the team is going to use as the reason to not fire Eberflus despite an 0-4 start, two of his hand-picked coaches needing to leave the team for HR reasons, and three losses where the Bears blew double-digit leads because of the head coach turtled when it mattered most. Were those three losses mentioned as the reason the Bears are not in the playoffs?
This is so Chicago Bears.
Being resigned to the fact that Eberflus' return is the path the team's leadership will take, these should be the suggested terms of surrender towards accepting another year of Coach Flus and his new and inventive ways of losing games.
Justin Fields Must Return as Quarterback
General manager Ryan Poles has the No. 1 overall pick. That means he has the chance to draft USC quarterback Caleb Williams who many consider to be a generational talent. If Poles wants to keep his head coach, he cannot pair him up with a rookie quarterback.
We've seen this before in 2017 and 2021. The Bears draft a quarterback with a head coach on the hot seat. The head coach gets fired and the franchise hires a head coach who will say anything to get their first job, so they agree to coach a quarterback they probably never wanted in the first place. The head coach fails to develop the quarterback. Then said head coach later gets a crack to draft their quarterback but comes up with a terrible development plan.
That sums up Matt Nagy's tenure. Oh, and do not forget in 2017, John Fox did not do much to develop Mitchell Trubisky. The franchise cannot keep repeating this fatal mistake.
2. Greg Roman Must Be Brought in as Offensive Coordinator
Someone must take the fall for the franchise falling short of the playoffs. If it is not going to be Eberflus, then it must be offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
Getsy's too-cute play calls on third and fourth down along with his belief that every quarterback must play like Aaron Rodgers has to be removed from this franchise.
That would mean Fields having a third offensive coordinator in four seasons. Bringing in Greg Roman is the one way to mitigate a potential performance backslide by Fields. Roman put together the offense that allowed Lamar Jackson to become an MVP. Lamar and Justin share similar tremendous athletic abilities. He understands a playbook needs to be designed to fit the amazing athletics gifts of a quarterback such as Fields.
3. Eberflus Must Remain the Defensive Play Caller (just give him someone to help him with the in-game management)
The defense was awful when former defensive coordinator Alan Williams was calling plays. After his sudden resignation, Eberflus took over and the defense started to improve. It took off after the acquisition of Montez Sweat.
Say all the bad things that you want about head coach Matt Eberflus, but you cannot say many terrible things about defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. The guy can call a good defensive game.
That means he needs to stay in charge of defensive play calling going forward. Yes, it would be ideal that he returns to being the CEO head coach and focuses on in-game management only. This defense is trending towards being dominant and the mojo should not be messed with. That is why the team should bring in an assistant head coach to help Eberflus with the in-game details like clock management and challenges.