Hot Seat Talk: Possible Matt Eberflus replacement for Bears |
It's no secret that the Chicago Bears season is starting to spin out of control.
Considering how much Ryan Poles invested into this roster, this season is looking to be another disappointment. At some point, Poles has to be held accountable, but he put together a roster more than capable of winning games. The problem seems to be Matt Eberflus and his coaching staff, as he is the one who needs to be held accountable. After winning just three games in his first season as head coach and posting a franchise record 11 consecutive losses, Eberflus showed signs of improvement last season. The team finished the season 5-2 over their final seven games to go 7-10. That alone was probably enough to keep him in his job, but when the Bears selected No. 1 in the NFL draft and brought in Caleb Williams, you had to think a change at the top was coming. That wasn't the case, as Poles elected to keep Eberflus around one more year, and that decision is proving to backfire. While the 4-4 record isn't terrible, it is the way the team is losing that is. They lost on a last-second hail mary two weeks ago before getting blown out by the Cardinals this past week. To make matters worse, it looked like the team quit on Eberflus Sunday, as he fell to 0-16 on Sunday afternoon road games as a Bears head coach. That is unimaginably bad, and you have to think a change at head coach is coming. If this were any other organization, Eberflus would've been fired last season, and there is a good chance he would be fired at some point this season. The problem is the Bears ownership group has never fired a coach midseason, and it doesn't appear that they will be doing that this season, meaning Eberflus is safe for the remainder of the season. Beyond that, it seems like a safe bet that he will be looking for work next season the Bears will most likely be in the market for a new head coach. Although extremely premature, it does appear as if the Bears have his potential replacement in mind should it go the way many think it will, and it is a guy who wanted the job last season in current Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. When you look at all the internal issues with the Bears, from Tyrique Stevenson pulling what he has pulled the past two weeks to DJ Moore showing his frustrations more visibly by the day, this team is a mess, and it is a mess that falls on the head coach and his staff. It has gotten to the point where it doesn't seem like Eberflus can fix it, and thus, an actual change may be the only way to fix the Bears' current situation. If the job does open, Ben Johnson is already being linked to this team, and you can connect the dots to see why. For starters, Johnson is one of the fastest-rising assistants on the market. He has been linked to several coaching openings since last season. From his offensive ingenuity in his play calls to his overall aggressive nature, Johnson is the new-age type of coach the Bears need. They seem to be taking an old-school approach, which hasn't worked in their favor. Another reason Johnson makes sense for this team is the overall talent that the Bears have on offense. Detroit's Lions have one of the deepest and most skilled rosters top to bottom, but it has been their offense that has put up insane numbers, as they have a plethora of skill players who can't be stopped. The same can be said about the Bears and their skill players. Adding a young, offensive-minded head coach to this team would work wonders for Williams and the offense. That might be the only way for Williams to reach his full potential, as Johnson paired with him would be a match made in heaven. At 38 years old, Johnson would be one of the youngest head coaches in the league, but he has been around the NFL since 2012 when he started as an offensive assistant for the Miami Dolphins. Following his time in Miami, Johnson took the job in Detroit with Dan Campbell, where he has been since 2020, starting as the team's TE coach and working his way up to one of the best OCs in the game. Poaching Johnson from the Lions would not only be a massive win for the Bears and the rest of the NFC North, but it would also be a massive loss for Detroit, as they would need to find a replacement capable of doing what he has done. Even if Johnson were to come to Chicago, the work would be far from over, as he would still have to bring a great coaching staff to make things easier. That shouldn't be hard, as Johnson is one of the most respected coaches in the game. None of this can come to fruition unless Eberflus is indeed let go and going off of what the owners have always done; that won't happen until this offseason, if at all. The fact that some names are already being released as his replacement shows that his job may not be as safe as some would think, and if his seat wasn't hot before, it is scorching hot now and will be something to watch the rest of this season.
