Bear Digest

Matt Eberflus Punts on Announcing a Change at Play Caller

Bears coach says he's not quite at the point where he's ready to reveal his solution to play-calling problems.

Gene Chamberlain

The Bears will have Caleb Williams at quarterback again Sunday against Green Bay but Matt Eberflus might change play callers.
The Bears will have Caleb Williams at quarterback again Sunday against Green Bay but Matt Eberflus might change play callers. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Matt Eberflus punted. It's what the Bears do best these days.

A day after saying he would have to assess the play-caller situation following a third straight Bears loss, the Bears coach had no decision yet on Monday morning. Yet, he said time is of the essence considering Sunday’s opponent is Green Bay and the time when the Bears play the NFC North has arrived.

“It’s got to be fairly quick,” Eberflus said of a decision. “I just think that right now, to come out here less than 24 hours and make all those changes or changes that you want to make and state, when I have those answers, I’ll get them to you.

“I’m just not at that point right now.”

Eberflus did say he’ll continue with Caleb Williams as quarterback but there could be more than one other change announced.

“There will be changes, adjustments, being made, I’m not going to disclose those right now,” Eberflus said. “I’m not at that point in the process. Monday is a long day in terms of the evaluation of everything, in terms of lineups, in terms of the coaching, in terms of how we need to do better in that coaching and in that communication in-game, during the game, after the game, prior to the game.

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“So it’s important that we take time to make those decisions and make the right decisions that’s for the Bears, best for the Bears going forward this week and going forward into the future. That’s the most important thing that we do, that we have some steadiness here, but also make the necessary adjustments and changes that we need to make, what’s best for the Bears going forward.”

Some of the other possible changes might not even be in terms of actual people or roles.

“Just in-game communication, in terms of that it’s got to be better,” Eberflus said. “The adjustments, the tactical adjustments, need to be better with that on all sides.

“Everything’s on the table. And it’s important that we look at everything and we take the time to get that done.”

 Eberflus called Sunday’s game film tough to review.

“When your team is not playing complementary football, you don’t like it,” Eberflus said. “You don’t like it.

“When you’re playing complementary football, it’s something to see because you’re playing off of each other, it’s complementary, you can see guys and their passion for each other to get those things done, and yesterday was not that. It’s not something that you like to look at.”

The Bears have 27 points in three games, 34 possessions and only nine points in their last 23 possessions so obviously something is wrong. Eberflus thinks they can turn it around because he saw evidence of it earlier.

When Eberflus does get around to a change, he said it will be entirely his call. He is in communication with GM Ryan Poles but has the final word on changing play callers himself.

“We’ve won some games in a row so there is evidence on tape that we’ve had togetherness, complementary football, played winning football and for you to sit there and say we haven’t done that, that’s not true,” he told reporters.  “I would say that I also understand that we’ve lost three in a row and there’s an urgency there and there’s an adjustment, changes that are necessary in that process because it hasn’t worked the last three weeks and I’m fully aware of that, too.

“Again, I’m not just at that point right now in terms of stating those changes because we’re in the middle of that process.”

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.