Bears CEO admits to mishandling Matt Eberflus' firing: 'I'll be the first one to raise my hand'
Less than 24 hours after his Thanksgiving disaster, the Chicago Bears fired Matt Eberflus.
Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked with 32 seconds left, but the Bears did not stop the clock. Williams then hiked the ball with seven seconds left and overthrew wide receiver Rome Odunze – the ball hit the turf with the clock at zero, giving the Detroit Lions a 23-20 victory.
Eberflus said he wanted to pocket his final timeout so the Bears could use it in case they got some yards before a field goal attempt – but that never came.
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Eberflus then met with the media on Friday to again discuss the situation – and he was fired later on in the day.
The decision to let Eberflus talk to the media on Friday and then fire him was a curious one that was ripped on social media.
Team CEO and President Kevin Warren discussed the events on Friday to offer a clearer picture, saying the front office had not yet come to a decision about Eberflus' fate prior to his Friday conference.
But, he admitted the Bears screwed up the ordeal.
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"If [there’s] one thing we stand for, it’s family and integrity and doing it the right way. In retrospect, could we have done it better? Absolutely and I’ll be the first one to raise my hand, yes," Warren said. "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 is that once we reached the decision, we wanted to make sure we talked to Matt about that so he could have the respect to be able to call his family.
"It happens around the league a lot where a head coach will find out he’s terminated, and he finds out before he’s told from the organization – and that’s something we promised that we weren’t going to do. So, 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."
The coach released a statement Saturday expressing his "heartfelt gratitude." Eberflus also thanked the fan base for its "support and passion" and left his players with kind words.
Eberflus leaves the Bears with a 14-32 record, and Chicago became the third NFL team this season to fire a head coach.
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