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Overreactions: Matt Eberflus time is up, Ryan Poles deserves criticism, costly slow starts and more

5 days agoScott Bair
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DETROIT – DJ Moore summed up well what happened at the end of Thursday’s 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions.

The Bears receiver described his reaction to a comeback shockingly fallen short in typical, forthright fashion.

“You’re just like ‘what the hell?’ Nah, it’s like ‘what the bleep,’” Moore said. “It’s not ‘it is what it is’ but we’ve got to find a way to win. We keep coming back in these games and be having time to actually win the game and we just sh-t the bed.

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Accurate on all counts. Moore could be referring to any of three straight heartbreakers to Green Bay, Minnesota and Detroit, but this Lions offered a great WTF opportunity.

Fans are upset, obviously, about another shot at victory, but this one felt bigger. It was the only NFL game play early Thursday afternoon, with the NFL’s entire audience at home and celebrating with a whole government issued day off.

That magnified what happened, as did Jim Nantz who said the end sequence was a disaster in the making after the Bears didn’t call a timeout with the game on the line before the Bears failed to complete a comeback.

That has led to some, well, strong opinions. Let’s get to them in this week’s overreactions, though most of them focus on changes at the top. We’ll dive into them in these overreactions:

No more waiting. Matt Eberflus has to go now.

Overreaction?: Not anymore

This article might not be relevant too long, if the Bears in fact fire Matt Eberflus on Friday morning. The current head coach is set to speak with the media at 9 a.m. CT on Friday, and it’s hard to imagine they trot Eberflus out there only to can him later in the day. Waiting any later takes away the natural advantage of the longer week coming off a Thursday afternoon game.

Team president Kevin Warren was in the Bears locker room after the game, as he always is, but he was very visible and talking to a bunch of players. That may mean nothing. Or maybe Warren was taking the temperature of the locker room.

He could just read the press clippings for that, because Bears players were candid about their disappointment Eberflus didn’t bail a slow-developing play out with a timeout. Keenan Allen so far as to say players did enough to win. You can read between the lines there.

They may well lead the Bears to break precedent and fire a head coach for the first time in franchise history. Warren is new, however, and could spurn George McCaskey to do something different.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Eberflus gets let go on Friday. I don’t think there’s any chance he’s the Bears coach next season, but he could play out the string. The real question is whether he has lost the locker room. Finding an interim head coach on the roster isn’t ideal, and Eberflus is the team’s best defensive play caller.

But it’s rational to think Eberflus isn’t coaching the Bears’ next game against San Francisco.

Ryan Poles shouldn’t get a free pass for what has happened. He kept Eberflus last winer and it cost the Bears season.

Overreaction?: Nope

Heard this from Twitter, and that individual made a good point.

Does that mean Ryan Poles should clean out his office? No way. Poles isn’t going anywhere. He has built a strong foundation of players here, has drafted relatively well and pulled off that huge Bryce Young/Caleb Williams that has bought him plenty of time.

While Poles will be around for a longer-term, criticizing him is fair. He kept Eberflus a year too long, when he could’ve let him go with cause last year. That was a huge mistake that really cost the franchise. Executives make big decisions and Poles got that one wrong.

He also chose to pay skill players and cornerbacks without enough investment along both fronts, as the Detroit Lions did in creating a monster. Was that the right move? Maybe, maybe not. Poles got the quarterback right. Of that there is no doubt.

While he has done a ton right, Poles deserves a fair share of flak for how this season has gone.

Slow starts have killed this season as much as Eberflus

Overreaction?: Kinda sorta

It rarely seems like the Bears are ready out of the gate. So much has been made about the lack of scoring in the first quarter, but that was never more painful than in the first half against Detroit, when the stats were stunningly lopsided.

The Bears are routinely down heading into the second half, forcing the team to late this late and improbable surges that are falling short. This is not a bunch that dominates from the outset. While it’s good that they make smart adjustments and continue to fight for wins, they run into pressure-packed situations where they have struggled.

That hinders this team and has all season. When we talk about a season that went so wrong, slow starts are a factor in why the team went downhill.  

There should be a documentary on this team. They find new and dramatic ways to lose each week.

Overreaction?: Nah

The Bears were the subject of the training camp edition of Hard Knocks, which seems like forever ago now. That series was pretty dull, heavily edited and without swearing or fighting or topics of strong interest.

A regular-season version would’ve been fascinating, from the early wins to the London to all that went wrong after that. There was a firing, a bunch of tough losses – don’t forget about Tyrique Stevenson and the Hail Mary – and the last three games. Whether that leads to an early change at head coach will be determined on Friday. The Bears wouldn’t go for such a series, but it would be a fascinating watch.

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