Bear Digest

Matt Eberflus' Rank Among Coaches Fails to Follow Betting Odds

CBS Sports has ranked Matt Eberflus last among all the NFC North coaches and in the bottom third overall despite finding favor with the Vegas crowd.

Gene Chamberlain

Matt Eberflus presides over Bears warmups during minicamp. Eberflus remains one of the coach of the year betting favorites.
Matt Eberflus presides over Bears warmups during minicamp. Eberflus remains one of the coach of the year betting favorites. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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Bears coach Matt Eberflus is getting far more respect from Vegas oddsmakers and bettors than he is from national media.

Eberflus remains one of the favorites with bettors to win NFL coach of the year honors.

DraftKing still has him as favorite to win and the odds are now at +800. Fanduel.com has him with second-best chance to win it, tied with Atlanta's Raheem Morris at +1000 and trailing only favorite Jim Harbaugh at +900.

However, CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin has posted the website's annual ranking of all coaches out ahead of the start of training camps and it's falling right in line with some of the other coach rankings on the internet.

Eberflus is ranked only the 26th best coach in the NFL by Benjamin.

"Perhaps no coach will benefit more from a personnel overhaul in 2024, with Caleb Williams and a trove of proven weapons coming aboard this offseason," Benjamin wrote. "Chicago is also betting on Eberflus' recent returns as a defensive mind. After an ugly one-and-a-half years that included in-season staff turnover and mercurial offense, his "D" finally came to life late in 2023, threatening a wild-card push."

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If they're threatening a wild-card push, why is Eberflus ranked so poorly?

Eberflus is ranked well behind every other coach in the NFC North. The worst ranking by any of the NFC North coaches is 12th by Minnesota's Kevin O'Connell.

Eberflus is ranked behind first-year Panthers coach Dave Canales, first-year Panthers coach Mike MacDonald and veteran Raheem Morris, who has a 21-38 record in three years as a head coach with Tampa Bay.

At least he is rated by Benjamin head of Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon (27th), Raiders coach Antonio Pierce (28th), Jets coach Robert Saleh (29th), Titans first-year coach Brian Callahan (30th), Patriot first-year coach Jerod Mayo (31st) and Saints coach Dennis Allen (32nd).

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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.