The Chicago Bears have had two problems for the last decade, an inability to find a franchise quarterback and an inability to find a long-term head coach. And it is worth arguing that these two issues are directly tied to one another.
On Friday, the organization parted ways with head coach Matt Eberflus in the middle of his third year with the organization. This comes after a rather embarrassing display of time management in their Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions.
This continues a rather troubling trend in Chicago of the organization firing their head coach while having a rookie quarterback on their roster.
In 2017, the Bears drafted Mitch Trubisky second overall and then fired John Fox after that season. Then in 2021, the organization drafted Justin Fields in the first round and fired Matt Nagy the following season.
Now, we have seen the same situation unfold with Matt Eberflus being fired after the team selected Caleb Williams in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Naturally, fans took notice of this trend and hope that Caleb Williams doesn’t end up being negatively impacted by the coaching change.
“A cycle of malpractice,” one fan wrote on X.
“The blueprint for why bad teams stay bad,” another wrote.
“This is a clinic on how to poorly manage an organization,” wrote another fan.
This isn’t necessarily saying that Caleb Williams is destined to be Mitch Trubisky or Justin Fields. But there is no doubt that a head coach is crucial in the development of a quarterback.
Clearly, the Bears’ top priority this coming offseason should be to find the right head coach to properly develop Caleb Williams.
Thomas Brown, who was just promoted to offensive coordinator a few weeks ago after the firing of Shane Waldron, will serve as interim head coach. So he will have the first chance to prove that he has what it takes to be the head coach of the future in Chicago.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.