Bears brass says chaotic end to Matt Eberflus era could have been handled better
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (CBS) -- After a tumultuous six weeks that resulted in the inevitable firing of Head Coach Matt Eberflus, the Bears are in uncharted territory—starting a head coaching search in the middle of the season for the first time in franchise history.
Team President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Warren and General Manager Ryan Poles on Monday addressed the chaotic end to the Eberflus era—and their plan to replace him.
"In retrospect, could we have done it better?" Warren said. "Absolutely. I'll be the first one to raise my hand—yes."
With Bears principals from the McCaskey family looking on, Warren and Poles took the podium and acknowledged that allowing Eberflus to do a news conference few hours before he was fired could have been handled differently.
The decision to fire Eberflus was one that was still being sorted out at the time but needed to be made, they said.
"Two years ago, I was proud of the progress that we'd made from year one to year to, but disappointed we weren't being able to stay on that track in year three," Poles said. "When you look at the end-of-the-game situations; just some of the detailing—as we all know, a lot of these come down to those critical spots—that we weren't able to get over the hump."
Warren said Poles will remain general manager and will be the "point person" for the search, but they will work together closely to find the right candidate.
"It is critically important that we put all of our energy into making sure that we exhaust this search, get the right person here," Warren said.
"I've learned a lot over the last few years. I think the most critical thing is that I know, from the roster that we have right now, exactly what this team needs—because of the core group that we have here," Poles said. "Before, that wasn't really the case of understanding who was going to be here. It was a really tough situation to walk into."
Interim Bears Head Coach Thomas Brown said his first order of business in team meetings with players Monday morning was to make sure "our house is right."
Brown will be preaching coachability, accountability, and dependability for the last five games of the season.
"I think naturally, what happens when you don't have success, there's division—because there's outside noise," Brown said. "So I mentioned this in the team meeting room, but also in the quarterback room, about the importance of controlling our thoughts."
Brown said he will continue to call plays the rest of the season now from the sidelines. Receivers coach Chris Beatty has been elevated to offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator Eric Washington remains in his position—replacing Eberflus as the play-caller on that side.
