Bears 8.0: Matt Eberflus FIRED

[jnrjr79]

If the Bears lose 1 of their next 2 games, I'd like to see a semi tank on the defensive side of the ball. The offense needs to go 100% so we can develop Caleb and evaluate our interim hc but I see nothing to gain or prove on the opposite side of the ball.

Brisker needs to be shutdown. No use risking another concussion in a losing season. Sweat has been playing hobbled. No reason for him to potentially cause long term problems. Shut him down too.

I'd have the other proven studs on defense only playing 60% of the snaps. That includes Johnson, K. Gordon, Byard, and Dexter. Use the rest of the games to evaluate the young defensive players so we have a better idea of what we need to do in Free Agency and the draft.

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Presumably a lot of players are going to have incentives in their contracts and wouldn’t just accede to being benched if healthy.

[jnrjr79]

What seems to be getting missed is:

WHY THE HELL WAS THE QB CHANGING THE PLAY?!?!?!

This is not being missed and has been widely reported. When Flus failed to take a timeout and the offense failed to get up to the line and set with enough time to run 2 plays, Caleb changed the play because he had to. Whatever they had drawn up was not a TD-seeking play. Once there was only enough time to run one, Caleb changed it to something that could result in a TD. I’m sure Caleb just calling TO himself to preserve two plays would have been a wildly better choice, but he admitted he felt whether to call a TO was a decision for the HC.

I would note that Caleb feeling empowered to change the play in response to an end-of-game emergency but not feeling empowered to call a timeout is ultimately a coaching issue.

The one thing I don’t understand is why it took so long for the players to get set to run the play. This, though, is at least also partially on coaching (though perhaps minimally Eberflus himself, depending on his level of involvement in hurry-up preparation).

Thats because there is a lack of leadership on the sideline and on the field and the rest is just spin .

They were taking so long to line up because they were pouting because Caleb had took yet another late game sack. In the video the Oline is picking him at the 28 second mark and then you see Caleb signal to the rest to come in at the 26 second mark but he was sacked so why are they still that far down field when the clock is still running ?

They will gladly lay it all at Eberflus feet but they are all at fault for that mess.

The execution was obviously bad, but I have no reason to ascribe it to “pouting.”

[jnrjr79]

this exactly. And also as soon as Flus saw Caleb was changing the play, any halfway decent coach could calculate easily in his head at that point that it was going to take too long, and should have immediately called the timeout. Do literally anything but what he did in that moment.

too little time to call TO when caleb began changing play

not true at all. Caleb starts changing the play with 23 seconds left. Still plenty of time to call timeout. Draw up a quick sideline out to get a few yards or throw it away and give yourself a chance at a long field goal. Again, literally any of those options is better than doing nothing in that situation and allowing the clock to run out without giving yourself a chance.

At 23 seconds, he seems to be trying to get the original playcall in and line set, not changing it.

Sort of a moot point, though, as you could call a TO a lot later than 23 secs to still have time for 2 plays.

[Bulliever2020]

too little time to call TO when caleb began changing play

not true at all. Caleb starts changing the play with 23 seconds left. Still plenty of time to call timeout. Draw up a quick sideline out to get a few yards or throw it away and give yourself a chance at a long field goal. Again, literally any of those options is better than doing nothing in that situation and allowing the clock to run out without giving yourself a chance.

At 23 seconds, he seems to be trying to get the original playcall in and line set, not changing it.

Sort of a moot point, though, as you could call a TO a lot later than 23 secs to still have time for 2 plays.

Was going off of his communication to the rest of the offense which he stops doing after initially communicating the play at 23 seconds or so. But like you said, a moot point. As long as you had double digits left on the clock that should have been sufficient time to get 2 plays off. A good coach knows the drop dead time you need to call a timeout. Caleb did a poor job getting the play off quickly and he's a rookie, he will learn. But a coach needs to protect his players in that situation. Period. Bottom line. And that is why he is no longer employed.

[jnrjr79]

not true at all. Caleb starts changing the play with 23 seconds left. Still plenty of time to call timeout. Draw up a quick sideline out to get a few yards or throw it away and give yourself a chance at a long field goal. Again, literally any of those options is better than doing nothing in that situation and allowing the clock to run out without giving yourself a chance.

At 23 seconds, he seems to be trying to get the original playcall in and line set, not changing it.

Sort of a moot point, though, as you could call a TO a lot later than 23 secs to still have time for 2 plays.

Was going off of his communication to the rest of the offense which he stops doing after initially communicating the play at 23 seconds or so. But like you said, a moot point. As long as you had double digits left on the clock that should have been sufficient time to get 2 plays off. A good coach knows the drop dead time you need to call a timeout. Caleb did a poor job getting the play off quickly and he's a rookie, he will learn. But a coach needs to protect his players in that situation. Period. Bottom line. And that is why he is no longer employed.

Yeah, it was chaotic, so I’m just giving my best shot at reading what’s going on. I think at 20-ish seconds, he’s going up and down the line getting the original playcall in, presumably because he thinks they don’t have it or something isn’t aligned right. At about 10 seconds, he seems to shout in both directions to change it. The reason I think my interpretation may be correct is Caleb said he changed the play because there wouldn’t be time to run 2 plays. At 23 seconds, that’s obviously not true, but he could have just made a rookie mistake. Heck, even at 10 seconds, I assume they could have run the original playcall and called timeout.

In any event, IMO, they should have called the TO when he was sacked, but if not, just done it at around 15 seconds when the original play had not yet been run. Take a breath, regroup, try something to the sideline, kick it.

[panthermark]

This is not being missed and has been widely reported. When Flus failed to take a timeout and the offense failed to get up to the line and set with enough time to run 2 plays, Caleb changed the play because he had to. Whatever they had drawn up was not a TD-seeking play. Once there was only enough time to run one, Caleb changed it to something that could result in a TD. I’m sure Caleb just calling TO himself to preserve two plays would have been a wildly better choice, but he admitted he felt whether to call a TO was a decision for the HC.

I would note that Caleb feeling empowered to change the play in response to an end-of-game emergency but not feeling empowered to call a timeout is ultimately a coaching issue.

The one thing I don’t understand is why it took so long for the players to get set to run the play. This, though, is at least also partially on coaching (though perhaps minimally Eberflus himself, depending on his level of involvement in hurry-up preparation).

Thats because there is a lack of leadership on the sideline and on the field and the rest is just spin .

They were taking so long to line up because they were pouting because Caleb had took yet another late game sack. In the video the Oline is picking him at the 28 second mark and then you see Caleb signal to the rest to come in at the 26 second mark but he was sacked so why are they still that far down field when the clock is still running ?

They will gladly lay it all at Eberflus feet but they are all at fault for that mess.

A veteran QB definitely would have been more decisive in that situation, and not let it play out the way it did. Good learning experience for Caleb. Last week he issued a mea culpa for his part in Waldron's departure. Wonder if he does the same thing this week regarding Eberflus?

I agree with that.
A day or so ago you had mentioned that Bart Starr would have known what to do. I chuckled to myself because unfortunately, my first thoughts were Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers handling that situation with ease. Maybe that is too much for a rookie, but in my head I can clearly see either of those two hurrying their teams to the line, snapping the ball with about 13 seconds on the clock, and (as they both do) firing a bullet off their back foot to one of their random slot guys running a slant, that picks up 17 yards and gets down with 3-4 seconds left on the clock. Call TO. 4th and 9 from the 24, easy 41 yarder to go into OT.
Perfect execution.
Hopefully the team learns from this.

[NZB2323]

Thats because there is a lack of leadership on the sideline and on the field and the rest is just spin .

They were taking so long to line up because they were pouting because Caleb had took yet another late game sack. In the video the Oline is picking him at the 28 second mark and then you see Caleb signal to the rest to come in at the 26 second mark but he was sacked so why are they still that far down field when the clock is still running ?

They will gladly lay it all at Eberflus feet but they are all at fault for that mess.

A veteran QB definitely would have been more decisive in that situation, and not let it play out the way it did. Good learning experience for Caleb. Last week he issued a mea culpa for his part in Waldron's departure. Wonder if he does the same thing this week regarding Eberflus?

I agree with that.
A day or so ago you had mentioned that Bart Starr would have known what to do. I chuckled to myself because unfortunately, my first thoughts were Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers handling that situation with ease. Maybe that is too much for a rookie, but in my head I can clearly see either of those two hurrying their teams to the line, snapping the ball with about 13 seconds on the clock, and (as they both do) firing a bullet off their back foot to one of their random slot guys running a slant, that picks up 17 yards and gets down with 3-4 seconds left on the clock. Call TO. 4th and 9 from the 24, easy 41 yarder to go into OT.
Perfect execution.
Hopefully the team learns from this.

Favre is the all time interception king and is just as likely to throw an INT on that play, if not earlier in the game. Williams hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 6 games. We can also look at the rookie stats of Favre and Rodgers:

Favre: 0-4 passing, 0% completion rate, 0 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 1 sack

Rodgers: 9-26 passing, 56.3% completion rate, 65 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 3 sacks

[panthermark]

A veteran QB definitely would have been more decisive in that situation, and not let it play out the way it did. Good learning experience for Caleb. Last week he issued a mea culpa for his part in Waldron's departure. Wonder if he does the same thing this week regarding Eberflus?

I agree with that.
A day or so ago you had mentioned that Bart Starr would have known what to do. I chuckled to myself because unfortunately, my first thoughts were Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers handling that situation with ease. Maybe that is too much for a rookie, but in my head I can clearly see either of those two hurrying their teams to the line, snapping the ball with about 13 seconds on the clock, and (as they both do) firing a bullet off their back foot to one of their random slot guys running a slant, that picks up 17 yards and gets down with 3-4 seconds left on the clock. Call TO. 4th and 9 from the 24, easy 41 yarder to go into OT.
Perfect execution.
Hopefully the team learns from this.

Favre is the all time interception king and is just as likely to throw an INT on that play, if not earlier in the game. Williams hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 6 games. We can also look at the rookie stats of Favre and Rodgers:

Favre: 0-4 passing, 0% completion rate, 0 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 1 sack

Rodgers: 9-26 passing, 56.3% completion rate, 65 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 3 sacks

You missed the point. Bart Starr didn't do much as a rookie, but the comment was around veteran QB's handling that situation versus it being too much for a rookie. He had mentioned Bart Starr (simpler times, HOF'er, Superbowl winner, Packer and league MVP) and it made me think of two other Packers that were also Superbowl winners, league MVP's and HOF's (Yes, Rodgers is going) and how they tended to handle those situations with ease, at least against Chicago...and how much unfortunate it was that they are all Packers.

[Dresden]

What do we think of Belichek? It intrigues me just because he'd transform the whole operation.

I am honestly pretty meh on him, but I think regardless of our feelings, he’s not something the Bears would ever do. He’s not going to report to Warren. Warren won’t want that. He’ll want personnel control, so where does that leave Poles? It seems like you’d need to clean more house to make it work, and I’m not sure about a 72 year-old guy who could not seemingly do well without Brady (though he had Brady for so much of his career, I’m not sure what to make of that).

It would certainly be a splash, intriguing as hell, and totally un-Bears-ish.

I'd rather anybody but Belichick. His players all hated playing for him. He takes all the joy out of the game. And besides that, he's never proven to win anything without Brady, plus he's too old. So no.

[biggestbullsfan]

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[nitetrain8603]

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So Caleb is celebrating Eberflus' firing? That's okay I guess. He should humble, himself, however.

Also, James should realize that Rome hasn't been great himself all year. If he wasn't such a high pick, he probably would be riding the pine.

[dice]

not true at all. Caleb starts changing the play with 23 seconds left. Still plenty of time to call timeout. Draw up a quick sideline out to get a few yards or throw it away and give yourself a chance at a long field goal. Again, literally any of those options is better than doing nothing in that situation and allowing the clock to run out without giving yourself a chance.

At 23 seconds, he seems to be trying to get the original playcall in and line set, not changing it.

Sort of a moot point, though, as you could call a TO a lot later than 23 secs to still have time for 2 plays.

Was going off of his communication to the rest of the offense which he stops doing after initially communicating the play at 23 seconds or so. But like you said, a moot point. As long as you had double digits left on the clock that should have been sufficient time to get 2 plays off. A good coach knows the drop dead time you need to call a timeout. Caleb did a poor job getting the play off quickly and he's a rookie, he will learn. But a coach needs to protect his players in that situation. Period. Bottom line. And that is why he is no longer employed.

once again, there will be no sideline route available at that point. it's a fantasy. any catch will be in bounds and the clock will likely run out on the FG unit. throwing it away is not productive as it leaves a hail mary or hail mary FG (santos came up short from 56 in indy)

flus ASSUMED that caleb could get off a reasonable play and leave enough time to simply call a TO. a very reasonable assumption. much better chance of success than foolishly calling TO w/ under 20 secs

tom brady snap to snap 19 secs:

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[dice]

What do we think of Belichek? It intrigues me just because he'd transform the whole operation.

I am honestly pretty meh on him, but I think regardless of our feelings, he’s not something the Bears would ever do. He’s not going to report to Warren. Warren won’t want that. He’ll want personnel control, so where does that leave Poles? It seems like you’d need to clean more house to make it work, and I’m not sure about a 72 year-old guy who could not seemingly do well without Brady (though he had Brady for so much of his career, I’m not sure what to make of that).

It would certainly be a splash, intriguing as hell, and totally un-Bears-ish.

most importantly, he's not someone who could potentially run w/ caleb for many years

[dice]

this exactly. And also as soon as Flus saw Caleb was changing the play, any halfway decent coach could calculate easily in his head at that point that it was going to take too long, and should have immediately called the timeout. Do literally anything but what he did in that moment.

What seems to be getting missed is:

WHY THE HELL WAS THE QB CHANGING THE PLAY?!?!?!

This is not being missed and has been widely reported. When Flus failed to take a timeout and the offense failed to get up to the line and set with enough time to run 2 plays, Caleb changed the play because he had to.

except that he didn't have to until the clock was well under 10 secs, by which time there wouldn't have BEEN enough time to change it. instead of taking the time to change the play, he should have been snapping the damn ball!

not to mention that even if you thought there was only time for 1 play, you should call the TO to properly set up that play. panicking and changing the play at the LOS was both unnecessary and nonsensical

[fleet]

I'd draft Mason Graham if he's on the board In round 1.

I’d have to agree. As bad off as the O-line is, it’s actually better off than the D line. They need a young blue chip DT 3 tech in the worst way. I don’t believe that Dexter will be filling that description. And Sweat isn’t getting any younger, and he’s not elite either. I wouldn’t be mad if they went for O-line, because the need to protect Caleb may tip the decision, but as far as I can tell, Graham has the most upside available.

[dice]

steelers failed to call TO at the end of first half to take a shot at a TD. instead they let it run down for a chip shot FG. happens to the best of 'em, i guess

[fleet]

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Sounds like Adam is laying the seeds for Ben Johnson already.

Good news. Poles is demonstrably questionable with his record. Let Warren lead the way.

[fleet]

What do we think of Belichek? It intrigues me just because he'd transform the whole operation.

I do think he would know how to fix the organizational problems. Which is a priority. Which could ruffle the feathers of the problem birds. I’d prefer to go younger? Caleb likes young coaches more. But I’d be resting easy that the big problems would get solved with Belichick. With the place the Bears are in, we should favor known quantities. Yet I seriously doubt George is secure enough to take BB on, and not sure about Warren either in that regard. BB would want more say so on personnel than these fools would be willing to hand over. Not that Bill is the greatest in all respects personnel-wise, however he does have a process that is proven to work in the big picture.

[TheGOATRises007]

Caleb and Belichick wouldn't mesh well.

I'd pass on him.

[CjayC]

As meatball as it sounds we need a strong leader. IDK if old man Belly is up to the task. IDK if Ben Johnson is that leader of men type of guy either. He has Dan Campbell the oldschool Football guy, as the Yin, to his new school analytics mind Yang. We keep trying to outsmart ourselves and that's how we end up with the Nagy's and Trestman's of the world. You could be a brilliant X's and O's guy, but there's a whole lot of mechanics actually leading a team. Some guys can make it work like Mike McDaniel, but that seems more exceptional vs being commonplace. There's clearly more to it than just trying to hire some brainiac to coach and calling it a day.

With that in mind me for me it'd have to be Vrabel, or our own Thomas Brown. Maybe Ben Johnson will give a good interview to Warren. He definitely seems confident. I guess we'll find out shortly.

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