The Bears are moving on from coach Matt Eberflus after a terrible last-second loss to the Lions

Prior to this season, the Chicago Bears had never fired a coach during a season, a fact of which they were proud.

They’ve also never experienced a coaching fiasco like the one they experienced late in the game this season, especially what happened on Thanksgiving with everyone watching.

Eberflus will take one last break for his next job after the Detroit Lions’ loss. A final-minute debacle in which the Bears let about 25 seconds run off the clock instead of calling a timeout in a 23-20 loss to the Lions was the end of their patience. Eberflus met with the media Friday morning and was fired shortly after, according to multiple reports. It is the first time in a season that the Bears have fired a head coach.

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will take over for the remainder of the season, according to multiple reports.

The Bears have had a few losses punctuated by strange coaching decisions, including the Lions’ loss and a Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders. First overall pick Caleb Williams struggled for most of his rookie season before offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired and the Bears quickly dropped out of playoff contention. Brown was the passing game coordinator before Waldron was fired.

The Bears will move on and their fans’ last memory of Eberflus will be watching his team blow another game in the final seconds.

Matt Eberflus had a difficult time with the Bears

Eberflus’ first season ended with a 3-14 record, but Eberflus kept his job. The following season started just as badly with a record of 2-7. But Eberflus gathered all his strength and won five of the last eight games, which saved his job. It was an entertaining but ultimately damaging period because it meant Eberflus could keep his job for another season.

The 2024 season didn’t start off too badly. They were 4-2 in the bye, although some weak opponents helped. After saying goodbye, things got ugly. Williams began to regress. The Bears lost to the Washington Commanders on a Hail Mary that came after the Bears gave up just enough yards to put Washington within range for the long throw, a decision that Eberflus said “doesn’t really matter.” A few weeks later, the Bears were in position to beat the Green Bay Packers, but settled for a 46-yard field goal attempt that was blocked. The Packers said they knew kicker Cairo Santos had a low trajectory on his kicks, which gave them a chance to block the final attempt. Eberflus stuck to his decision not to come any closer. An overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings gave the impression that the Bears might be doing a little better, but the embarrassing loss to the Lions put paid to that thought.

On Thanksgiving, the Bears rallied from a 16-0 halftime deficit to trail 23-20 in the final minute. A sack with about 30 seconds left the Bears behind, and then chaos ensued. Williams looked like a confused rookie trying to get the team in line. The snap wasn’t taken until there were six seconds left. Williams threw deep and incomplete as time expired. The Bears still had a timeout but didn’t use it.

You won’t find many NFL teams that post such a poor result at the end of a game.

Who will coach the Bears?

The Bears’ situation isn’t bad. The threshold for success is low. Chicago has missed the playoffs in 12 of the last 14 seasons. They haven’t won a playoff game since the end of the 2010 season. But the squad is pretty good and Williams has shown enough that a good coaching candidate can see the benefits of working with him.

After the Bears made the wrong decision to choose a defensive-minded coach in Eberflus while the rest of the league was hiring offensive minds, it seems like a good bet that the Bears’ next coach will have an offensive background.

There are reasons to believe that better days lie ahead for the Bears, which would be nice for a franchise that hasn’t won a Super Bowl in nearly four decades. Eberflus wasn’t a good fit, and it took the Bears another year to admit it.

During a spotlight game on Thanksgiving, Eberflus’ time ran out.