Bears 8.0: Matt Eberflus FIRED

[patryk7754]

Taking bets....Will Eberflus be fired after getting embarrassed by the Packers again or after getting embarrassed on national tv against the Lions on Thanksgiviing?

I don't see the Bears firing Flus during the season. But if we stay on the current trajectory then I think they dump his ass as soon as the season is over. I certainly hope so. He's in over his head.

Yea, i agree that Poles wouldn't pull the trigger mid season. It would have an extreme loss and I have a bad feeling about Thanksgiving.

[panthermark]

The real problem is we beat some crap teams early and gave a lot of fans false hope thanks to a piss easy schedule. In reality, this is a 7-10 team that is a couple years and/or a coach away from being truly competitive. That's not really a big problem as the overall outlook is positive, outside the coaching issues. We have Caleb who is promising, we have a good cap situation, and most/all of our future picks and what should be a very high extra second rounder.

That is true, but I think the underlying concern is the coaching situation and all that it entails.
How often do star QB's develop when they start out under a lame duck regime and have a HC/OC change after their 1st year?
Aaron Rodgers sort of did it, but he sat for several years and learned under an HOF QB. That isn't our situation.

We know Flus probably has to go, and the fear of "f'-ing this up" is already in the back of our minds.
The next HC simply HAS to be the guy that will be here for at least a decade and will be the next "Ditka".
Given that Poles had the option to let Flus go in the off-season but didn't (especially when Fields was traded), and we are now in this situation makes us wonder if Poles is even the guy that should be here.

[madvillian]

The real problem is we beat some crap teams early and gave a lot of fans false hope thanks to a piss easy schedule. In reality, this is a 7-10 team that is a couple years and/or a coach away from being truly competitive. That's not really a big problem as the overall outlook is positive, outside the coaching issues. We have Caleb who is promising, we have a good cap situation, and most/all of our future picks and what should be a very high extra second rounder.

That is true, but I think the underlying concern is the coaching situation and all that it entails.
How often do star QB's develop when they start out under a lame duck regime and have a HC/OC change after their 1st year?
Aaron Rodgers sort of did it, but he sat for several years and learned under an HOF QB. That isn't our situation.

We know Flus probably has to go, and the fear of "f'-ing this up" is already in the back of our minds.
The next HC simply HAS to be the guy that will be here for at least a decade and will be the next "Ditka".
Given that Poles had the option to let Flus go in the off-season but didn't (especially when Fields was traded), and we are now in this situation makes us wonder if Poles is even the guy that should be here.

You risk giving a QB permanent PTSD no doubt. Bears have to be on Ben Johnson or bust IMO. Just having him as head coach would improve the chance of Caleb becoming a franchise guy by like 50%. If you think it's 1/2 now, with Johnson it's probably 2/3. Look how he's helped Goff's game. He knows how to get the best out of the QB and passing offense. He'd immediately rebuild the offensive line and go from there. That's how it should always be done IMO. You get the line first, then you get the skill guys. That's how Detroit did it.

[Dresden]

I've said it every week for the last 2 seasons. The Bears will never go anywhere with Flus as head coach. Every week they are the least disciplined and least prepared team on the field.

I don't think that has been the case in the games they've won this year. Or during the preseason, when they went 4-0. In all of those wins, they looked like the better team, and the better coached team.

They are the worst q1 team in the league. That speaks to preparation. They are constantly getting stupid penalties. That speaks to discipline. Those things also happened in their wins.

Allowing the hail mary, and then yesterday the TD run to end the half, also speaks to discipline. They were asleep at the wheel both plays and it cost them 2 games.

There is no defense for either Flus or Waldron that carries any weight. They have managed to sabotage a promising season. It's also obvious the players don't think much of them.

I'm not defending anyone. I'm just saying your statement that they have been the least disciplined and least prepared team EVERY WEEK is not true. They had a few games at least where they did not have a lot of penalties, and didn't make a lot of dumb mistakes.

[Dresden]

The real problem is we beat some crap teams early and gave a lot of fans false hope thanks to a piss easy schedule. In reality, this is a 7-10 team that is a couple years and/or a coach away from being truly competitive. That's not really a big problem as the overall outlook is positive, outside the coaching issues. We have Caleb who is promising, we have a good cap situation, and most/all of our future picks and what should be a very high extra second rounder.

That is true, but I think the underlying concern is the coaching situation and all that it entails.
How often do star QB's develop when they start out under a lame duck regime and have a HC/OC change after their 1st year?
Aaron Rodgers sort of did it, but he sat for several years and learned under an HOF QB. That isn't our situation.

We know Flus probably has to go, and the fear of "f'-ing this up" is already in the back of our minds.
The next HC simply HAS to be the guy that will be here for at least a decade and will be the next "Ditka".
Given that Poles had the option to let Flus go in the off-season but didn't (especially when Fields was traded), and we are now in this situation makes us wonder if Poles is even the guy that should be here.

I don't know how you can doubt what Poles has done overall. No GM is perfect. He's had a few miscues, but overall, I think he's raised the talent level on the team significantly in a short amount of time and has them headed in the right direction. Changing GM"s now would be a colossal mistake, IMO.

[patryk7754]

Just got a notification from ESPN that the bears "are sticking with Waldron" as play caller. It could have just been a quick answer from Eberflus when asked if there are going to be any changes. Not sure, i didn't read the article. But if the bears felt the need to announce Waldron will still be calling plays, than that is interesting to me. Gives me the impression that his seat may be getting a little warm. Fingers crossed

[MalagaBulls]

Just too predictable: Flus is running the delusional Nagy playbook and doubling down on the arrogance & stupidity:

Read on Twitter

[dougthonus]

I don't know how you can doubt what Poles has done overall. No GM is perfect. He's had a few miscues, but overall, I think he's raised the talent level on the team significantly in a short amount of time and has them headed in the right direction. Changing GM"s now would be a colossal mistake, IMO.

I think the argument against Poles would like something like this:

1: A lot of his success is luck
He traded away the #1 pick because he wasn't sure about Justin Fields. Justin Fields wasn't good, and this bet was bad. He got back another #1 overall pick with assets, but that was out of his control, and largely not due to skill. If the Panthers finish say 9th worst record, the Bears are still wondering about their QB situation. He could have simply taken CJ Stroud with that pick.

2: The process of trading picks for guys on their final year of their deal feels flawed
Mathematically, this is terrible because you are giving up draft capital in order to pay market value. There's reasons why it isn't always so bad because sometimes guys will never hit the market otherwise, but the times it goes against you can really go against you.

I don't have a strong opinion about Poles to be honest. I think some of the process stuff leaves me skeptical, but he doesn't strike me as an idiot or someone in way over his head. If I were to compare him to AKME as an example, most of the moves AKME made struck me as totally nonsensical on the surface based on our position and turned out that way in reality.

[Kurt Heimlich]

Just too predictable: Flus is running the delusional Nagy playbook and doubling down on the arrogance & stupidity:

Read on Twitter

Did anyone really expect a wet noodle like flus to make any bold decision here? The guy is so obviously lost at this level of decision making team management. And he's not an inspirational guy. He's a "make everyone feel equal" and "our process will lead to success" guy. But his process sucks and hes a trestman level "leader" of these elite athletes.

[Almost Retired]

Getting off the Bears for a second how about that reverse hurdle move by Saquon Barkley yesterday? What incredible agility.

[patryk7754]

The real problem is we beat some crap teams early and gave a lot of fans false hope thanks to a piss easy schedule. In reality, this is a 7-10 team that is a couple years and/or a coach away from being truly competitive. That's not really a big problem as the overall outlook is positive, outside the coaching issues. We have Caleb who is promising, we have a good cap situation, and most/all of our future picks and what should be a very high extra second rounder.

That is true, but I think the underlying concern is the coaching situation and all that it entails.
How often do star QB's develop when they start out under a lame duck regime and have a HC/OC change after their 1st year?
Aaron Rodgers sort of did it, but he sat for several years and learned under an HOF QB. That isn't our situation.

We know Flus probably has to go, and the fear of "f'-ing this up" is already in the back of our minds.
The next HC simply HAS to be the guy that will be here for at least a decade and will be the next "Ditka".
Given that Poles had the option to let Flus go in the off-season but didn't (especially when Fields was traded), and we are now in this situation makes us wonder if Poles is even the guy that should be here.

I don't know how you can doubt what Poles has done overall. No GM is perfect. He's had a few miscues, but overall, I think he's raised the talent level on the team significantly in a short amount of time and has them headed in the right direction. Changing GM"s now would be a colossal mistake, IMO.

I completely agree. The issue with Poles is that his two negative marks are arguably the two or three most important things a teams needs, coaching and OL play. I somewhat give him a pass on Eberflus, because if I remember right, he had to choose from a predetermined list of candidates and went with Eberflus. There's no excuse for OL. He's a former OL and he's made one significant move on the line.

With that being said, I think he has one more chance to fix those issues.

[panthermark]

The real problem is we beat some crap teams early and gave a lot of fans false hope thanks to a piss easy schedule. In reality, this is a 7-10 team that is a couple years and/or a coach away from being truly competitive. That's not really a big problem as the overall outlook is positive, outside the coaching issues. We have Caleb who is promising, we have a good cap situation, and most/all of our future picks and what should be a very high extra second rounder.

That is true, but I think the underlying concern is the coaching situation and all that it entails.
How often do star QB's develop when they start out under a lame duck regime and have a HC/OC change after their 1st year?
Aaron Rodgers sort of did it, but he sat for several years and learned under an HOF QB. That isn't our situation.

We know Flus probably has to go, and the fear of "f'-ing this up" is already in the back of our minds.
The next HC simply HAS to be the guy that will be here for at least a decade and will be the next "Ditka".
Given that Poles had the option to let Flus go in the off-season but didn't (especially when Fields was traded), and we are now in this situation makes us wonder if Poles is even the guy that should be here.

I don't know how you can doubt what Poles has done overall. No GM is perfect. He's had a few miscues, but overall, I think he's raised the talent level on the team significantly in a short amount of time and has them headed in the right direction. Changing GM"s now would be a colossal mistake, IMO.

Pretty easy actually. I've never been on the "King Poles, Let Poles cook, In Poles we trust" bandwagon. Learned my lesson on that nonsense with the Bulls.

There are some things that I like, some things I don't like.

He has made good moves, and he has made blunders.

There was also quite a bit of luck in landing the #1 pick. We should actually thank Lovie for that. I give Poles all the props in the world for fleecing the Panthers and getting DJ Moore, but again, we don't get that chance without Lovie's help and the Panther's ineptitude.

*Clayfool was a disaster. We lost the 32nd pick in the draft for nothing.

*VJJ was an absolute bust as a 3rd round pick. Yes, some picks bust, it happens....but that pick was questionable to begin with given his age.

*For that matter, Tyler Scott isn't looking so hot as a 4th round WR.

*Letting Monty walk because we didn't want to give him more than one year of guaranteed money was a total blunder. Trying to replace him with Forman was an absolute disaster that impacted the entire offense since Monty was the best offensive player on the roster not named Fields 2022. The first RB signed after Monty left was Travis Homer.

*The interior O-line is still in shambles. The best interior player on the roster was drafted by the last regime as an OT.

*He owns Flus and Waldron now. He didn't prior to this year. But when he moved on from Fields and Getsy, but decided to keep Flus, he took ownership. Conventional wisdom is you clean house in that scenario. If he has to fire Flus a year after he decided to keep him when he should have moved on, that is 100% on him, and not a good look. That would mean that when year 4 of his GM'ship starts up, he would be on his 2nd HC, along with his 3rd OC and 3rd DC. That does not sound like good GM'ing. And everyone would be wondering why he wasted a year of CW on a lame duck coach. What makes it heart-breaking is that he came into an organization that made the exact same blunder before.

Those last two are huge given that the #1 overall pick was used on a franchise QB. It isn't too late fix this looming mess if he nails the next HC/OC/DC but he has already fumbled this once already. Hopefully he trades Herbert and Allen for whatever assets he can get, and spends the entire next draft on nothing but the trenches.

We were supposed to be done with learning how to win, and now be expecting to win. To take the North and never give it back. We are still the worst team in the division and are bumslayers at best.

[MalagaBulls]

WTF? Is this AI generated?

Read on Twitter

[MissileMike]

WTF? Is this AI generated?

Read on Twitter

Yes, it's not even meant to be a fake or trick anyone. It's just done for comedy.

[Stratmaster]

I don't think that has been the case in the games they've won this year. Or during the preseason, when they went 4-0. In all of those wins, they looked like the better team, and the better coached team.

They are the worst q1 team in the league. That speaks to preparation. They are constantly getting stupid penalties. That speaks to discipline. Those things also happened in their wins.

Allowing the hail mary, and then yesterday the TD run to end the half, also speaks to discipline. They were asleep at the wheel both plays and it cost them 2 games.

There is no defense for either Flus or Waldron that carries any weight. They have managed to sabotage a promising season. It's also obvious the players don't think much of them.

I'm not defending anyone. I'm just saying your statement that they have been the least disciplined and least prepared team EVERY WEEK is not true. They had a few games at least where they did not have a lot of penalties, and didn't make a lot of dumb mistakes.

Which games did the Bears look prepared in the first quarter?

[Dresden]

I don't know how you can doubt what Poles has done overall. No GM is perfect. He's had a few miscues, but overall, I think he's raised the talent level on the team significantly in a short amount of time and has them headed in the right direction. Changing GM"s now would be a colossal mistake, IMO.

I think the argument against Poles would like something like this:

1: A lot of his success is luck
He traded away the #1 pick because he wasn't sure about Justin Fields. Justin Fields wasn't good, and this bet was bad. He got back another #1 overall pick with assets, but that was out of his control, and largely not due to skill. If the Panthers finish say 9th worst record, the Bears are still wondering about their QB situation. He could have simply taken CJ Stroud with that pick.

2: The process of trading picks for guys on their final year of their deal feels flawed
Mathematically, this is terrible because you are giving up draft capital in order to pay market value. There's reasons why it isn't always so bad because sometimes guys will never hit the market otherwise, but the times it goes against you can really go against you.

I don't have a strong opinion about Poles to be honest. I think some of the process stuff leaves me skeptical, but he doesn't strike me as an idiot or someone in way over his head. If I were to compare him to AKME as an example, most of the moves AKME made struck me as totally nonsensical on the surface based on our position and turned out that way in reality.

I agree that getting the #1 pick was luck, but it was a smart strategy. It was hard to know about Fields, so he hedged his bet and looked at him for another year. I don't think he was wrong about Fields- he just needed more information, which he eventually got and moved on from Fields.

It was also a weak year for QB's, and 2024 was looking like a particularly strong one. So it made sense on that level too. And with 2 FRP's, even if CAR's pick was not in the top 5, we could have used our other pick to move up to get a QB. Plus he got DJ Moore in the deal, and 2 seconds I believe. That was a great haul, even if we hadn't gotten the #1 pick.

I don't think you can argue getting Sweat hasn't worked out beautifully. Claypool was dud, Allen is looking sort of middling. I don't have a problem with any of those deals- they aren't all going to work out and they made sense at the time.

The main thing is, Poles hasn't done enough to get fired. His draft picks have been overall pretty good. His FA pickups have been pretty good. I'd say his biggest failing to date has been to neglect the off. line, esp. with a young QB coming in, and not firing Flus last year.

But firing Poles and starting over just doesn't make sense. We're still a little over halfway thru this rebuild I'd say, and while there are some alarming problems- the offense, namely, it seems like we aren't that far away. Improve the line next offseason, get a new OC/HC, and then things should start looking better. Poles better get the next HC/OC right though.

[fleet]

Read on Twitter

Flus is toast.

I think a more interesting question to a player would be:

Does this team have faith in Ryan Poles?

Of course a player can't answer that with anything other than "Yes!"...but that question should be floating out there.

Caleb on pace to be one of the most sacked quarterbacks ever. He may have had a question as he iced his body in the tub last night

[Jimako10]

Read on Twitter

Supposedly Moore isn't happy about being the X receiver, which in the Waldron offense means he just does a bunch of windsprints. If only we had talented rookie WR to take that role instead....

[ShouldaPaidBG]

I actually think Caleb is making everyone look worse than they are. He's not a quick decision maker.

[Bandit King]

I actually think Caleb is making everyone look worse than they are. He's not a quick decision maker.

Or airmailing rainbows over our wide receiver s heads with that 49 percent completion percentage!