What so many of you have wanted has happened. Matt Eberflus has been let go as Bears head coach. The 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions was the breaking point, with a sixth-straight loss and the third-straight heartbreaker to an NFC North rival that the Bears could’ve and should’ve won.

Coaching decisions created a negative impact on four of those six losses, and they were never more present when Eberflus left Ford Field with a comeback squandered plus an offensive down and a timeout in his pocket.

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That wasn’t a smart move or a good look, one that clearly upset the Bears locker room. It became clear Eberflus had lost at least a faction of it, maybe more, so it became necessary for the Bears to break precedent and fire a head coach in-season for the first time in franchise history.

This will go down as a major pivot point in the Bears’ recent history, one that will continue a trend of failed hires or a break that leads to better things. It has intrigued the fan base to the point that Bair Mail received the largest volume of submissions in the series’ short history.

There’s no way I’ll be able to hit every inquiry, but I’ll hit most major themes on this special Monday Bair Mail, which will land before we hear from Bears brass about the Eberflus firing.

We’ll have another one on Wednesday to catch up on those topics we missed. And if we need to keep it at twice a week, well, then that’s what we’ll do.

Let’s open up the mailbag and see what you’d like to talk about:

Martin from Farnhamville, Iowa

Ben Johnson can he be brought in or (convinced to) want to coach in Chicago. With all the drama with this team, Mike Vrabel is not the coach we need. I’m hopeful Brown will get the job done.

Bair: Ben Johnson should be one of, if not the most coveted head-coach candidate in this hiring cycle. He’ll command a massive salary and, after turning down offers last year, has rare leverage for an offensive coordinator looking to make the next step up in his coaching career.

He’s beloved in Detroit and he loves it there. And, at age 38, he’s not in a huge rush. That, and what could be significant competition for his services, could lead to a high price tag.

The Bears are right to think their vacancy is attractive, considering Williams’ talent and presence. They’re also set up well with the salary cap, with plenty of well-paid talent that produces. There isn’t a lot of dead weight on the cap to this point, and with some proper investment up front, the Bears could be competitive in a hurry. Does Johnson want to go up against the Lions twice per year and play in a loaded division where a title’s a difficult journey for the foreseeable future?

We don’t know what Johnson’s thinking. All we’ve got is a sliver, from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday, where he said, “I think he might have interest in that job.” Bears fans will gnaw on that for a while now. If there’s a chance the Bears can get Johnson, fans would love it.

Steven Wagner from Highland, Indiana

What do you think it will take for Thomas Brown to earn the Bears HC job next year?
For example: # of Wins ; # of points scored per game in last 5 games; game management decisions, how much improvement by Caleb over next 5 games ; offensive line play; effort of players to play smart and hard for Brown…or whatever you think the measurements should be?

Bair: Great question, Steven. I like how you’re thinking about the process of Thomas Brown’s prolonged audition for the full-time gig. Being an interim head coach has it’s difficulties, with team essentially out of the playoff picture and struggling to win. If he turns the Bears around, there will be a groundswell of fan sentiment for him to keep the job even though outside candidates may have a leg up.

To answer Steven’s question directly, I think it won’t all be metrics or a win threshold. He has to win a bunch to have a chance. It’s clear the Bears are looking for a leader of men, someone who can command the locker room and a game-day sideline. He has the first part locked down, but he’ll need to prove adept at game management as well without experience there. That will be huge for Brown, as will Caleb Williams’ continue development and the rapport he has with the offensive-minded coach.

I would say wins and in-game management and the locker-room culture he creates. Poles and Warren will have far more evidence on Brown by watching him work every day. He doesn’t have to be perfect in this role, but he needs to develop and grow as a young coach.

There’s tons of talent on the roster. Can Brown extract it on game day? If that’s the case, and he shows a good working relationship with Poles, that will go a long way in making him a serious candidate. Sometimes interim coaches are finalists without a real shot. I think Brown will get one and have a chance to earn the full-time job.

Mack Monroe from Washington, Illinois

I want to know why they waited for another tremendous error in game management from their head coach to finally fire him. The world could see he wasn’t in his right mind. He cost the players at least 4 chances on winning football games! Why, why did they wait so long?

Bair: The Bears, as I’ve mentioned and I’m sure you’ve heard, don’t like firing coaches in-season. They’ve never done it in franchise history, so it’s hard to have imagined the Bears letting Eberflus go at the first sign of trouble.

While it’s easy to point direct blame at Eberflus from the Washington game, it’s a bit murkier from some other results. There were moments in the Vikings game (the 4^th-and-4 comes to mind) that didn’t go well, and the Lions game was egregious.

I still think it comes down to him losing the locker room with no hope of recovering it. After the Lions game, it was lost for good. Had the Bears won Thursday’s game, I honestly don’t think Eberflus gets let go. That was the final straw. It took a lead-up to that game, and then a breaking point. In hindsight, doing so earlier might’ve presented a chance to save the season. Eberflus has always struggled as a game manager, but it came to a head at that point.

Robert Lyons from Schaumburg, Illinois

Bair: I agree with you, Robert, that money will be an important factor in this search. We’re mentioning names like Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel. Those guys won’t come cheap. If there’s a coach that unexpectedly hits the open market after a down year (it won’t happen with Kyle Shanahan, but let’s use him as an example) that name coach will be expensive. 

Will the McCaskeys be willing to pay top dollar for some of the best coaches on the list? We don’t know what ownership is willing to pay in this cycle. Maybe it’ll be more than in recent hires. Something tells me we won’t ever know.

If organization believes they’re an excellent coach (and a few oxen up front) away from real contention, it’s time to pay up. The Bears are the only NFL team in the third largest media market, with a massive fan base. And there’s no cap on coaching salary. If you’re going to interview the. Top candidates, there’s an expectation of a willingness to pay the freight.

That can’t be an issue in this hire, or the Bears are already behind. And a good coach brings large, well-paid staffs. That’s part of the deal and the Bears must understand that. They’ve also got to enter this hiring cycle hoping it’s the last one for a long time, ideally the entirety of Williams’ career/tenure in Chicago. If they can find a partner, go get him and do it now. This quarterback deserves stability, and there’s a real opportunity to give him some the Bears failed to provide when he was a rookie.