Chicago Bears fire head coach Matt Eberflus following baffling loss in Detroit on Thanksgiving

DETROIT – The Chicago Bears finally pulled the trigger. For the first time, the organization has fired its head coach during the season. The Bears fired third-year head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday, less than 24 hours after a dramatic loss on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit.

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown is expected to take over as the interim head coach. Ian Rapoport first reported the coaching change.

Eberflus’ team lost its past six games. That included a weird finish on Thursday when the Bears ran one final play with the clock ticking down and failed to leave themselves any time to attempt a potential game-tying field goal, despite having one timeout remaining.

Eberflus ends his tenure with a 14-32 overall record as the Bears head coach. The team’s best finish under Eberflus was a 7-10 mark last season.

The Bears simply couldn’t win close games with Eberflus leading the charge. The team was 5-19 in one-possession games under Eberflus. The Bears blew three separate double-digit, fourth-quarter leads in 2023. In 2024, they lost a game this year via a Hail Mary, another with a last second-field goal blocked, as well as Thursday’s latest debacle.

After Thursday’s loss, Eberflus didn’t shy away from the blame.

“I’m the head football coach, so I’m taking the blame, of course,” he said. “That’s what you do. So, we didn’t get it done, it starts at the top and it starts right here.”

The Bears had never fired a head coach during a season, but they are also facing a time of great change. Team president and CEO Kevin Warren took over the reins of the organization in April 2023. He has played a big part in everything the Bears have done since, most notably shifting their stadium search from Arlington Heights back to the city of Chicago.

Warren, no doubt, approved the decision to fire Eberflus.

It appears that general manager Ryan Poles is safe for now. The Bears hired Poles and Eberflus in January 2022. The team conducted both searches simultaneously using a search panel of five individuals from both inside and outside the organization. Warren would not come into the picture for another year.

The Bears hired Poles first, but the organization already had its head coaching pool narrowed down. Poles conducted second interviews with Eberflus, Jim Caldwell and Dan Quinn, before settling on Eberflus as his choice just 48 hours after taking over the job.

With three years on the job now, Poles will presumably have much more authority when searching for his next head coach this time around.

Firing Eberflus gives the Bears a leg up on finding their new coach. Teams with coaching vacancies may begin interviewing head coaching candidates virtually during the final two weeks of the regular season. In-person interviews cannot take place until after the divisional round of the playoffs.

This is a developing story. Check back at shawlocal.com for more.