Bears reporter rips team for how Matt Eberflus was fired
On Friday, the Chicago Bears parted ways with head coach Matt Eberflus after the team’s puzzling clock management directly led to their sixth straight loss on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions. And while ESPN Bears reporter Courtney Cronin doesn’t disagree with the decision to fire Eberflus, she shared her grievances with how the decision to let Eberflus go went down.
Eberflus’ naturally received a lion’s share of the blame for the Bears running just one play in the final 36 seconds of the game. But if that wasn’t bad enough, he then went on to defend his decision not to stop the clock with a timeout, saying that he liked what the team did.
Defending what was a clear mistake after the game was probably the final nail in the coffin for Eberflus. But not before Eberflus again spoke with the media in his scheduled Friday press conference, only to be fired by the Bears hours later.
According to a report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Bears actually decided to fire Eberflus in a meeting involving George McCaskey, Kevin Warren, and Ryan Poles that took place at the same time as Eberflus’ media availability.
Courtney Cronin isn’t exactly buying that explanation, saying in a post on X that the organization “brought even more humiliation” to themselves by having Eberflus take part in his media availability.
“Just like with Shane Waldron, it was evident well before now that a firing would take place,” wrote Cronin. “Matt Eberflus waited two days after the Patriots loss to fire Waldron even though the writing was on the wall in the way he addressed questions about Waldron’s job security after the game.
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“The Bears could have done this last night but chose, after getting embarrassed on national TV, to bring even more humiliation on the franchise by trotting out Matt Eberflus to do his day-after press conference and then whacking him just over 2 hours later. For an organization that has talked about doing things differently to break cycles of past regimes, this unequivocally misses the mark.”
Just like with Shane Waldron, it was evident well before now that a firing would take place. Matt Eberflus waited two days after the Patriots loss to fire Waldron even though the writing was on the wall in the way he addressed questions about Waldron’s job security after the…
It was a weird look to have Eberflus discussing the team’s Week 14 game against the San Francisco 49ers when it was pretty obvious to most that he wouldn’t be around for the game.
There are a few things however that the Bears needed to consider before firing Eberflus. The organization has never fired a coach in the middle of the season. So perhaps their meeting on Friday morning was more to discuss who would be replacing Eberflus as the interim head coach.
Regardless, if there was any inkling at all that Eberflus was potentially going to be replaced, why not at least move back his press conference until after the meeting between the ownership and general manager?
How the firing went down can certainly be debated. But the important part for Bears fans is that the firing is done considering how fractured the Bears locker room has appeared under Eberflus for the better part of a month now.
[Courtney Cronin on X]
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.
