CHICAGO (WGN) — The job security of Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is firmly in the spotlight following a third straight loss on Sunday, but will coaching changes be coming in the near future?
“There’s got to be a change — an adjustment — to what we’re doing because we lost three in a row,” Eberflus said Monday. “There will be changes, adjustments being made [and] I’m not going to disclose those right now. I’m not at that point in the process.”
When it comes to changes and adjustments, Eberflus said “in-game communication” and “tactical adjustments” need to be better and “everything’s on the table,” but there’s no firm decision in place yet on what those changes and adjustments will be. He said “when I have those answers, I’ll get them to you, and I’m not at that point right now.”
What Eberflus was firm on Monday was that Caleb Williams will remain the team’s starting quarterback moving forward, regardless of any changes in the coaching staff or team game plan.
“Caleb is our starter,” Eberflus said.
However, the Bears head coach wouldn’t commit to whether Waldron would still be on staff by week’s end, saying, “The process of that, we’re going through that right now.”
“All those adjustments and changes and things that we’re going to do, we’re still in the evaluation phase of that,” Eberflus said.
The barrage of questions surrounding the direction of Chicago’s football team heading into the last eight weeks of the season began Sunday during the Bears’ postgame press conference.
“As a head football coach, [we’re] all disappointed, accepting accountability for everything,” Eberflus said during his opening statement postgame. “Then really [I’m] just looking inward at myself first. That’s what I asked the players to do too, and the coaches. We’ve got to take a good, hard look at everything we’re doing and play good, complimentary football.”
The first question asked of Eberflus was about what portion of their 19-3 loss he was accountable for, to which he said, “The whole thing.”
“The whole thing, right?” Eberflus said. “The operation of it — offense, defense, kicking. That’s the job of the head coach. So, to me, that’s accountability for everything.”
The shots kept coming too. When asked how he’d defend his work as head coach when it looks as bad as it did Sunday, Eberflus answered that the Bears have “evidence on tape” of success in the past, and they just need to get back to that.
“We’ve played some good, complimentary games in terms of offense, defense and kicking,” Eberflus said. ” We’ve scored points a few games in a row and done a good job of that so, we have to find the winning way and our winning formula to get that done.”
The back-and-forth pivoted toward potential coaching changes next. When asked if he’s willing to be fired without exploring the possibility of shuffling the offensive coaching staff, Eberflus reiterated, “We’ll look at everything.”
“I think it’s look at everything from the top to the bottom and make sure that we’re finding the answers to move the ball down the field, play better as a football team on offense, defense and special teams,” Eberflus said. “We’re looking at everything. Everything’s going to be looked at.”
The Bears have played anything but good, complimentary football over the last calendar month.
Chicago was 4-2 and averaging a little more than 31 points per game over their three previous contests coming out of their Week 7 bye.
On the road for Week 8 in the biggest matchup of their season to date, the Bears offense sputtered until the fourth quarter at the Washington Commanders.
Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams led an offense that notched two touchdowns in the last 16 minutes of the game and the defense lived up to their usual billing, giving up only 12 points before a tipped Hail Mary delivered the Commanders a win as time expired.
Questions flew about whether Chicago could recover from a loss that devastating ahead their next matchup in Phoenix against the Arizona Cardinals.
Fast forward to Nov. 3, and the Bears mustered three field goals in their most lopsided loss of the season to a Cardinals team that beat them doing what they’re known best for — running the ball.
Arizona outgained Chicago on the ground, 213-70, behind 107 rush yards from James Conner and three TD runs from tight end Trey McBride and running backs Trey Benson and Emari Demercado.
Both losses were emblematic of a trend that’s been around since Eberflus took over as head coach back in February 2021 — he’s never won a Sunday game on the road.
Eberflus is 3-18 with a -181 point differential on the road in his career, which includes an 0-18 record in true Sunday road games.
If there was a remedy for the road blues experienced by this team heading into Sunday, it was a bit of home cooking. The Bears had the National Football League’s longest home winning streak (9) coming into their matchup against the New England Patriots.
From Week 7 of last season to Week 6 this year, Chicago averaged 28.6 points across nine home games, where the defense gave up an average of 14.7, and the team had a point differential of +125.
The Bears scored 27 offensive TDs (11 passing, 16 rushing) and committed only three turnovers (2 INTs, 1 FL) during a home stretch where they averaged 335 total yards per game.
The offensive line protected the quarterback, giving up an average of two sacks per game, while the passing attack averaged 181.1 pass yards on 9.64 yards-per-completion, and the run game produced 33.2 carries for 153.9 rush yards on 4.63 yards-per-carry.
But even a bit of home cooking didn’t put a pep in Chicago’s step, and the Bears offense from Week 9 carried over into Week 10.
Chicago gave up three times as many sacks (9) as they scored points (3), walked away with only 142 total yards of offense, and converted just one of 14 third down attempts against a defense that ranked in the bottom third of the NFL in opponents’ yards per game (24th), opponents’ third down conversion percentage (27th) and team sacks on defense (29th).
The Bears also extended a streak of 23 straight drives on offense without scoring a TD.
Even with all the ineptitude of their offense in recent weeks, players still offered support for their head coach and the offensive coaching staff in the 24 hours after Chicago’s third straight loss.
“Am I confident in my head coach? Yes, I’m confident in my head coach,” Williams said postgame Sunday. “As players, when we’re in the locker room, we know how good we are. We know how good we can be and right now, we’re not executing. We’re not hitting on [all] cylinders, and we have all the confidence in the world in each other.
“I’ve also been in some locker rooms that you know, you’re losing and it’s pretty tough in the locker room … but [to] have this stretch that we’ve had so far and the confidence that these guys have in me, the confidence that these guys have in each other — talking about the players — I think that’s a part of coach [Eberflus] selling that confidence and voicing that confidence of us coming together and being together.”
D’Andre Swift also showed support for the Bears’s coaching staff on Monday when asked if Chicago needs change right now.
“Not to my knowledge, no,” Swift said. “We came in here. We corrected the film from yesterday and are looking for another opportunity this week against another good opponent.”
The former Pro Bowl running back opted to shift responsibility for the offense’s poor performance toward the players, echoing similar sentiments expressed by team leadership in recent weeks, where improving on execution and little details has been the focal point of the conversation.
“It comes down to detail, execution, little things that are all correctable,” Swift said. “We just need to execute better as a unit. It’s tough, the position that we’re in when the defense and special teams units have been playing how they’ve been playing all year, and we can’t really help them guys.
“We need to figure out a way to come out on the other side and be an asset for this organization.”