The Chicago Bears are completely overhauling their offensive staff, firing offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, receivers coach Tyke Tolbert and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, but electing to retain head coach Matt Eberflus, according to an ESPN report.
Poor Bears fans. Eberflus has been the picture of mediocrity in his two years with the Bears, steering them to a pair of losing seasons and a 10-24 record overall during his tenure.
Chicago faithful, many of whom assumed Eberflus would be fired, flocked to Twitter to express their discontent.
Luke Getsy fall guy means Eberflus stays. Just a half ass plan once again from the Bears.
They can never rip the Band-Aid off. Instead, they just let the same dirty one hang on for a while longer until it falls off.
— Ross Read (@RossRead) January 10, 2024
“ after long consideration, the chicago bears are bringing back HC Matt Eberflus and OC Luke getsy for the 2024 season.” pic.twitter.com/SBUlVg8gUU
— WindyCitySports (@windycitysp0rts) January 3, 2024
It comes as no surprise that the offensive staff is gone. Numerous Bears stars publicly pinned the team’s offensive struggles on the coaching.
Quarterback Justin Fields told reporters he felt like overcoaching was leading to him playing too “robotic” in September, per NBC Sports. (RELATED: Pain: Chicago Bears Suffer One Of The Most Heartbreaking Losses You’ll Ever See)
Star wideout DJ Moore echoed those sentiments, “At the end of the day, we still got a job to do from the top down, from the coaches to us. We ain’t robots, and we gonna go out there and play the game that we been playing since we was kids and make it that way the best way we can,” Moore said in September.
The decision to retain Eberflus seems to be a puzzling one, until you look at the recent trend in Chicago’s decision making. As Fox Sports’ Carmen Vitali points out, they elected to retain head coach John Fox in 2017 and draft a new quarterback in Mitch Trubisky, only to fire Fox a year later. In 2021 they made the same call, retaining head coach Matt Nagy and drafting Fields, again, firing Nagy a year later. This is the picture of dysfunction.
Bears in 2017: Keep Fox. Trade up, draft Mitch Trubisky at No. 2
2018: Fire John Fox
Bears in 2021: Keep Nagy. Trade up, draft Justin Fields at No. 11
Bears in 2022: Fire Matt Nagy
Bears in 2024: Keep Matt Eberflus.
???
— Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV) January 10, 2024
Now, with the number one pick on their hands and a juicy quarterback class on deck, the Bears have a major decision looming. Will they perpetuate the pattern of inconsistent leadership, never allowing a young quarterback to get settled with a stable head coach? My money’s on them taking Caleb Williams and then firing Eberflus next year anyway.