The Chicago Bears have fired head coach Matt Eberflus after Thursday's end-of-game clock management debacle in their Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions. It is the first time that the Bears have made an in-season coaching change in franchise history.
Thomas Brown, who was elevated to offensive coordinator two weeks ago after Chicago fired former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, will now take over as the interim head coach.
A change in command in Chicago is not a surprise following the way that Thursday's game against the Lions ended. The Bears were driving down the field for a potential game-tying (or game-winning) score. With 33 seconds left, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked back at the Detroit 41-yard line. The Bears were just outside of field goal range, but had one timeout remaining at their disposal.
Chaos ensued, and the Bears had trouble getting lined up. Instead of calling a timeout, Eberflus and Williams allowed the clock to tick down under 10 seconds. Williams took a snap with six seconds remaining and threw a deep incompletion as time expired. The game ended with the Chicago holding on to one timeout and never getting an opportunity to kick a field goal.
It's not the first time that Eberflus has mismanaged the clock, but it's certainly the most notable. The Bears allowed Eberflus to conduct his weekly day-after press conference on Friday morning in which he said that he expected to continue coaching the team. Instead, Chicago moved to fire him on Friday afternoon.
The Bears are 4-8 this season, and were 14-32 in Eberflus's two-plus seasons in Chicago.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chicago Bears Fire Head Coach Matt Eberflus.
