Bear Digest

Bears Fire Coach Matt Eberflus And Replace Him with Thomas Brown

Bears ownership arrived at the conclusion it was time to let someone else try and coach as Matt Eberflus has been fired, according to NFL Network.

Gene Chamberlain

Matt Eberflus is out as Bears coach only hours after a press conference explaining what happened in Friday's game.
Matt Eberflus is out as Bears coach only hours after a press conference explaining what happened in Friday's game. / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
In this story:

The Chicago Bears have done something they never did before in 105 NFL seasons and fired their head coach during a season.

Matt Eberflus has been fired, according to sources, and the action by management came only a few hours after he met with the press to explain what happened in Thursday's loss.

The team announced the decision on Friday morning after a debacle at the end of Thursday's Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions. The Bears took a timeout home with them in the 23-20 loss, and had the ball at the Lions' 41-yard line on third down when the clock expired.

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown takes over as the interim coach.

"This morning, after meeting with George and Kevin, we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the leadership of our football team and the head coaching position,” Bears GM Ryan Poles said in a statement issued by the team. “I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and dedication to our organization. We extend our gratitude for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his family the best moving forward."

They also sent out a statement from Poles' boss, president Kevin Warren.

“I support Ryan and the decision that was made this morning," Warren said. "We understand how imperative the head coaching role is for building and maintaining a championship-caliber team, leading our players and our organization.

"Our fans have stood by us and persevered through every challenge, and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operational structure is strong, focused, aligned and energized for the future."

The late-game disaster Thursday led to the firing. Quarterback Caleb Williams took a sack out of field goal range and the clock was running. The Bears did not take their last timeout to regroup and then Williams added to the problem by changing the play at the line of scrimmage, eating up more time. He threw long and incomplete because he had no other options left without a timeout call.
The Bears nearly overcame a 16-0 halftime deficit and were in position to actually score the winning points when Williams missed on a short pass to Keenan Allen that could have reached the end zone. A 10-yard penalty for Teven Jenkins when he knocked the helmet off of a Lions defender ensued and moved the ball from the 25 to the 35 but still in field goal range.



Eberflus finished with a 14-32 record and a 3-19 record in road games. The Bears have gone without a road win since Nov. 27, 2023 and appeared set to end this streak. He had a 5-19 record in one-score games.

Only Abe Gibron (.274, 11-30-1, 1972-74) and John Fox (.292, 14-34, 2015-17) had worse winning percentages than Eberflus (.304).

The losing hit a peak on Thursday to end a series of tight defeats.

The Bears lost on a Hail Mary pass to Washington on Oct. 27, then on a game-ending blocked field goal to Green Bay three games ago. They lost in overtime to the Vikings in a game when they had another field goal blocked, after overcoming an 11-point deficit to tie in the final 30 seconds. Then they lost Thursday by squandering the chance to end Detroit's nine-game winning streak.

The Bears have lost six straight, the second longest losing streak under Eberflus. They lost 14 straight in 2022-23 under Eberflus, who was hired by GM Ryan Poles.

Poles had just been hired in 2022 when he was given three candidates to choose from by team board chairman George McCaskey, former team president Ted Phillips and an advisor on the hiring process, former NFL executive Bill Polian. The other candidates were former Lions and Colts coach Jim Caldwell and current Commanders coach Dan Quinn.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

Published |Modified
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.