Eberflus and the Bears went down in extremely painful fashion to the Detroit Lions (23-20) on Thursday night. With just under 30 seconds on the clock and a timeout under his belt, Eberflus decided to run out the clock and go for a touchdown with five seconds to go while the field goal was within reach.
It ended up costing the Bears the game and Eberflus his job.
The Bears, who last offseason selected QB Caleb Williams with the first pick in the NFL Draft, lost the last six games in a row and also previously sacked offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
During the series of defeats, which followed four wins from the first six games, the Bears lost several games in heartbreaking fashion. The Commanders beat them 18-15 after a 'hail mary', the Packers 19-20 after a blocked field goal in the very last second and the Vikings won 27-30 in overtime.
The painful defeat against the Lions was the last straw for the club management.
Eberflus, who came over from the Colts in 2022, was offered the head coaching job with the Bears for the first time in his now 30-year career and has won only 14 of 46 games with the Bears since his appointment. Before this season, in which the Bears are on a 4-8 record, Chicago finished with records of 3-14 and 7-10.
This is the first time in the more than 100-year existence of the Chicago Bears that the head coach has been fired in the middle of the season.
Earlier in the day, the coach addressed the press in an optimistic manner. He said he still believed in his job and the team's confidence. "I'm just going to work on finishing this match, do a good job evaluating it, our after-action report like we always do," he said.
"And then I'm going to work on (the game against) San Francisco. Again, those are conversations we'll have, and again, I'm confident I'll work on San Francisco and prepare for that game."
