Becoming the only head coach in franchise history to get fired midseason must’ve required something special from Matt Eberflus. If the McCaskey family weren’t willing to dump Marc Trestman during that disaster of a 2014 season, one can only imagine how bad it was last year. We know the stories. Eberflus was already struggling to maintain credibility coming into the 2024 season. Then you had the nightmare in Washington, followed by back-to-back blowout losses, the blocked kick vs. Green Bay, losing in OT to Minnesota, and the breaking point with the failure to call a timeout in Detroit. Players had enough. The locker room exploded. Eberflus had to go. If you think there aren’t any hard feelings, you’d be wrong. Kyler Gordon just proved that.
Multiple players have taken subtle jabs at the former Bears head coach in the months since his departure. The nickel cornerback didn’t even bother covering up his feelings. When discussing new head coach Ben Johnson with Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times, it became plainly obvious how little respect or admiration he had for Eberflus.
“It’s better than it’s ever been,” nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon told the Sun-Times. “His ability to relate to all the players and get everyone to feel where he’s coming from and his energy is just different from what we had the last three years — very much so.
“Once you get to the rest of the team and they see his concept with his energy behind it, we all believe it. No one can be half in, half out.”
Kyler Gordon reflects the lingering bitterness in that locker room.
The Bears had a real chance to succeed in 2024. They built some momentum towards the end of 2023. One more push could see them compete for the playoffs. However, multiple decisions by Eberflus ultimately sabotaged them. He hired Shane Waldron to develop #1 pick Caleb Williams. That didn’t even last half of the season. You had the soft coverage call against Washington that set up the Hail Mary. More soft coverage calls in OT against Minnesota that enabled their drive to the winning field goal. Lastly, he pocketed the timeout in Detroit and then blamed his rookie QB for it. The appalling lack of accountability proved his undoing.
Jaylon Johnson was the one who exploded first, calling out Eberflus for ruining everything. Others followed, and it sure sounds like Kyler Gordon was one of them. He must be thanking his lucky stars the Bears did the logical thing by hiring Johnson. For the first time in years, he has a chance to experience true success.
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