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Bears News

Bears earn high marks in NFL Players Association survey

10 months ago • Tony Andracki

The NFL Players Association released its annual report card Wednesday morning, evaluating all 32 teams in the league in a variety of different categories.

Nearly 1,700 NFL players (77% of the league) participated in the survey and judged 11 different areas, including:

-Treatment of families
-Food/dining area
-Nutritionist/dietician
-Locker room
-Training room
-Training staff
-Weight room
-Strength coaches
-Team travel
-Head coach
-Ownership

The Bears earned at least a C+ in every category…except one: head coach. But that is not a reflection of new head coach Ben Johnson and instead an indictment of Matt Eberflus.

This survey was conducted from Aug. 26 through Nov. 20. Eberflus was fired on Nov. 29 – the first time the Bears ever relieved a head coach of duties during the season.

Overall, the Bears ranked 14th out of the 32 NFL teams. Here is the summary from NFLPA.com:

They continue to provide a high-quality facility, which the players appreciate. The players’ most frequent complaint was with their former head coach Matt Eberflus. The players felt like he lacked a willingness to listen to the players and the players’ leadership council, and he mismanaged the weekly team schedule. After the team completed the survey, the Bears terminated Eberflus and hired Ben Johnson as their new head coach. It will be interesting for the players to see if some of these areas change next year.

The Bears rated highly in a bunch of categories, including several “A” grades. The organization received an A in the weight room category and an A- for the locker room and team ownership while also earning a B+ in both training room and strength coaches.

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The Bears notched a C+ in treatment of families and food/dining area and flat B grades in nutritionist/dietician as well as training staff and team travel.

The head coaching grade ranks as the worst in the NFL – tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns. Every other team in the league earned at least a B- grade in the head coaching category.

The organization’s A grade for the weight room sits 7th, the A- locker room mark ranks 8th and the A- ownership grade is 12th in the NFL. The Bears sit around league average with their marks in the nutritionist/dietician, training room and training staff categories.

The Bears rate highly with a B+ in strength coaches, but 23 of the 32 NFL teams earned at least a B+ grade in that area.

With an increased grade in the head coach category, the Bears could rank even higher in next year’s survey.