The Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday, creating what team president Kevin Warren believes will be the most highly sought-after opening in the NFL in 2025.
On Monday, Warren cited the fans, tradition, cap space, draft capital and young roster, including the presence of quarterback Caleb Williams, to back up his statement.
"When you look at all of these elements as we sit here today, we are in a unique situation," Warren said. "This will be the most coveted job in the National Football League this year, and (GM) Ryan (Poles) and I need to work hand-in-hand together to make sure we bring that to life, not only from a head coach standpoint but from an entire staff standpoint."
The Bears joined the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints as teams to fire their coach in-season this year.
Eberflus was fired after compiling a 14-32 record in two-plus seasons in Chicago. It marked the first time in franchise history the Bears fired a coach mid-season.
Eberflus was the fourth coach in Chicago since the Bears fired Lovie Smith in 2012 after a 10-6 campaign. In the past 12 years, Chicago has accumulated one season above a .500 record (12-4 in 2018 under Matt Nagy) and lost two playoff games. At 4-8, if their status holds, they'll have finished last or tied for last in the NFC North in seven of the past 12 years.
The Bears eschewed the opportunity to start with a clean slate last offseason as they prepared to draft Williams, giving Eberflus another shot to right the ship. Repeated coaching errors, however, spelled his doom, culminating in a Thanksgiving bungle for the ages in Chicago's loss to Detroit.
Last Friday, the Bears allowed Eberflus to meet with the media before ultimately firing him two hours later, which was an awkward decision for the franchise. Warren explained the circumstances that led to the bad look.
"I can tell you this: When coach Eberflus had his press conference, we had not made a final decision," Warren said on Monday. "I think you know me, I think you know Ryan, I think you know George McCaskey, I think you know the McCaskey family. If one thing we stand for, it's family, integrity, and doing it the right way. In retrospect, could we have done it better? Absolutely. I'll be the first one to raise my hand, yes. But during his press conference and even a couple of hours later, we had not reached a decision. But on the flip side of it, something that was important to us. Was that once we reached a decision we wanted to make sure to talk with Matt about that so he could have the respect and call his family. …
"In retrospect, could we have done better? Yes. But we were trying to be respectful and we did not know our decision when he started his press conference."
Warren added that Poles will remain the Bears general manager and help with the hiring process for the next head coach.
"Ryan Poles is the general manager of the Chicago Bears, and he will remain the general manager of the Chicago Bears," Warren said. "Ryan is young, he's talented, he's bright, he's hard-working. He has done everything in his power on a daily basis to bring a winner to Chicago, and I'm confident in Ryan. My faith remains strong in Ryan, and as leader of our football operations department and as our general manager, Ryan will serve as the point person on our upcoming search for our permanent head football coach."
In the meantime, interim head coach Thomas Brown promoted WR coach Chris Beatty to offensive coordinator on Monday. Eric Washington will take over as the defensive play-caller. Richard Hightower remains special teams coach.
