The Matt Eberflus era will be remembered as one of the darkest periods in Chicago Bears history. He owns the first and second-longest losing streaks in franchise history. Combined with his incredibly inept late-game management over the past two seasons, it was hardly surprising when the team fired him right after Thanksgiving in Detroit. Yet he'll be known best for mismanaging two 1st round quarterbacks. It started with Justin Fields in 2022 and 2023 before moving to Caleb Williams last year.
Most people agree Eberflus should've been fired before the 2024 season. He'd done nothing to earn the opportunity to develop a young quarterback. Still, the Bears felt compelled to give him one more chance. He completely fumbled it. Perhaps the most damning story came from ESPN's Seth Wickersham, who revealed Bears coaches rarely watched film with Williams during the season, leaving the rookie to fend for himself. Eberflus finally had a chance to defend himself on The Doomsday Podcast. He all but called Williams a liar.
“But back to your other question about the film watching and all that, I would say this, that in the development of the quarterback position, and really all positions, at my time at the Bears, we’ve always had daily coached film sessions. That was out there through the entire year. So that’s what I observed and that’s where it was.”
Matt Eberflus didn't ruin his chances by ignoring film sessions.
Williams himself clarified the situation. He stated the story didn't get the context right. It wasn't that the coaches didn't watch enough film with him. It was more that they never taught him how to watch it properly. They never explained the little details he should be looking for. This goes back to who Matt Eberflus hired to run the offense. Shane Waldron didn't have many champions coming out of his time in Seattle. The Bears hired him anyway, passing up on guys like Kliff Kingsbury and Liam Coen. Players knew immediately that they were in trouble. Waldron was wholly inadequate to the task, and Eberflus had no way of fixing the issue given his defensive background. It was one bad decision that snowballed into several more.
