Jan 31, 2022; Lake Forest, IL, USA;
Chicago Bears-Head Coach Matt Eberflus speaks during a Press Conference Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY
Sports
The Chicago Bears officially introduced new head coach Matt Eberflus on Monday. The reaction to his initial comments as the team’s replacement to Matt Nagy has been mixed. Though, the reason why Eberflus’ comments have not been universally received is because of who he is not.
Over the past weekend, there were three head coaching hires across the NFL landscape that caught the attention of Bears’ fans. On Friday, the New York Giants hired former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their head coach.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders finalized the hiring of former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their head coach. Over the past 24 hours, reports would seem to suggest that the Minnesota Vikings may be zeroing in on University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh to be their next head coach.
After the Bears made the decision to move on from Nagy after four seasons and the failed development of two promising quarterbacks in Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields, the thinking was that Bears would target an offensive-minded head coach to pair with a second-year quarterback in Fields.
The Bears, however, had another plan in mind as they wanted a culture reset for their team after the lack of discipline that the Bears had under Nagy. That would be why Eberflus’ philosophy appealed to the Bears and the direction in which they want their team to head in.
“So hustle, intensity, taking care of the football, taking it away and being smart situational players. Those will be the foundational pieces that we can measure.”
Eberflus and his “HITS” acronym have been widely scrutinized by local reporters within the Chicago Sports Market.
Matt Eberflus needs to be afforded plenty of time as Chicago Bears coach.
There are two reasons why Eberflus has been criticized after his introductory press conference and they are that he sounds too much like a coordinator and that his name is not Jim Harbaugh. Eberflus has never been a head coach at any level within football.
That is not a fact that should be held against the new Bears’ head coach. All that Eberflus’ lack of head coaching experience means is that he is going to be need to be afforded time to develop his profile as a head coach.
It is entirely premature for any judgment to be made on Eberflus considering the fact he has yet to have a game under his belt as a head coach let alone practice.
As for Harbaugh, it seems pretty evident now that there was never going to be a match between the Bears and their former quarterback. The Bears run a pretty clear football program and that is one where the head coach reports to the general manager, and the general manager reports to the owner.
