It’s hard to envision Matt Eberflus coaching the Chicago Bears in 2025.
Chicago entered this season with playoff aspirations after taking quarterback Caleb Williams with the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. But the Bears went 4-6 in their first 10 games and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired after an embarrassing Week 10 home loss to the New England Patriots.
Could Eberflus be next? Let’s take a look at his job status ahead of Sunday’s must-win game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Looking at Matt Eberflus’ Time in Chicago
Eberflus began his coaching career at the University of Toledo where he worked in various roles from 1992 through 2000. Following an eight-year run at the University of Missouri, Eberflus joined the Cleveland Browns in 2009 as a linebackers coach, a position he held for two seasons.
Eberflus spent the next seven seasons as a linebackers coach with the Dallas Cowboys and pulled double-duty as a passing-game coordinator in 2016 and 2017. He received his first big break in 2018 when the Indianapolis Colts hired him to be their next defensive coordinator.
Over the next four seasons, Eberflus earned a reputation as one of the top defensive minds in the NFL. Following back-to-back seasons with an average-at-best defense, the Bears hired Eberflus as their next head coach in 2022.
The results haven’t been good.
The Bears showed minimal improvement on defense over Eberflus’ first two seasons, and more importantly, Justin Fields failed to develop into a franchise quarterback. After securing the first overall pick, Chicago stuck with Eberflus last offseason before trading Fields and drafting Williams.
The Bears’ defense met expectations in the first half of the 2024 season. Entering Week 12, Chicago ranked seventh in scoring and graded sixth (B) in Pro Football Network’s Defense+ Metric. But the offense was a different story.
Chicago currently ranks 22nd in points per game and grades 26th (D) in PFN’s Offense+ Metric. After an impressive four-game stretch in Weeks 3 through 6, Williams regressed over the next four games while losing each contest.
Williams currently grades 35th (D-) in PFN’s QB+ Metric, well behind fellow first-rounders Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and Bo Nix. Over the first 11 weeks, Williams completed 61.8% of his passes for 2,016 yards and nine TDs to go along with five interceptions.
Despite playing with top-flight weapons in DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze, Williams has been one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks.
So, who deserves the most blame? Probably Williams, although Waldron’s poor play-calling and Chicago’s depleted offensive line also were major problems.
But Waldron is already gone, and Williams isn’t going anywhere. So, the only remaining fall guys are Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles. Both could be gone after the season — if not sooner.
Has Eberflus Been Fired Before?
Eberflus has never been fired from any of his jobs. He left Toledo for a better opportunity at Missouri and did the same thing at each of his stops in the NFL.
Entering Week 12, Eberflus held a 14-30 record with zero playoff appearances as Chicago’s head coach.