At one point, the Bears were out and behind during the week 13 matchup against the Lions. But Caleb Williams and Co. came out motivated to change the outcome after the halftime. From 0-16 at halftime, they reached 20-23 with 5 minutes remaining. With 46 seconds remaining, the Bears were 25 yards from the Lions’ end zone, but the HC Matt Eberflus didn’t use the timeout and the game went away. Now, the head coach is under attack.
During the post-game show NFL on CBS, former wide receiver Nate Burleson had pretty hard words for the HC and said, “This is unacceptable from the head coach position. Your responsibility is to not panic in critical situations, and to put your team in the best opportunity to win games. That’s a massive fail by Matty Eberflus and the players aren’t aren’t without fault. They also made mistakes.” That’s right.
With such a whirlwind comeback in the game, it was the Bears’ game to lose. But they couldn’t control the key moments at the end. The fans who thought at halftime that the coach should be fired changed their views upon seeing their team doing good. But the same feeling returned in the halftime. Had they scored the field goal and pushed the game into overtime, maybe they could have won. Who knows?
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Burleson was also angry at the coach for panicking at such a critical moment. While talking about the HC’s tactics, the ex-NFLer added, “On the coach’s side, this was a time management collapse. I don’t call for anybody’s job, but these are the type of late game decisions or lack thereof that gets people fired.” That’s harsh. The Bears have never fired a coach in the middle of the season. But HC might get it for his brash manners.
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Matt Eberflus defends himself after week 13 debacle
The fans are angry at his attitude. With this defeat, the Bears now have 4 wins and 8 losses. Also, 4 games they lost had very thin margins. Subsequently, they are in the 4th position in the NFC North. In their conference, they are in the 14th position. But the coach wasn’t fazed at all. He was all chill about his mistake.
During the post-game conference, Matt Eberflus said, “I like what we did there. I think we handled it the right way.” Really? No one believes him. But the playoff hopes took a hard hit with the loss. There is one thing clear. They have to work hard to even have a respectable finish.
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The Bears management is under pressure here. All the talk about the rookie Williams has ended. The coach couldn’t do what he was intended to do at the franchise. We’ll have to wait for this week or any statement from the GM Ryan Poles.
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