The Chicago Bears are coming off a 3-14 season, which earned them the top pick in the NFL draft. Yet, there’s growing optimism surrounding the team heading into 2023.
That has to do with general manager Ryan Poles retooling the roster with some key additions at positions of need, as well as the expected progression of quarterback Justin Fields in his third season.
The 33rd Team released their rankings of all 32 NFL head coaches heading into the 2023 season. And as you probably guessed, the fact that the Bears won just three games last season didn’t help Eberflus’ ranking.
Has any coach with a career .176 winning percentage ever received more kudos than Eberflus did with the Chicago Bears last year? It’s almost as if people gave him extra credit for losing so much the Bears got the No. 1 pick while making it interesting thanks to a Justin Fields highlight each week.
There was just one returning head coach ranked lower than Eberflus: Las Vegas’ Josh McDaniels (29). The other three are first-year head coaches in Indianapolis’ Shane Steichen (30), Houston’s DeMeco Ryans (31) and Arizona’s Jonathan Gannon (32).
There’s plenty of room for improvement for both Eberflus and his team heading into the 2023 NFL season. But there’s something to be said about how Eberflus kept arguably the NFL’s worst roster — that also dealt with injuries to key starters — competitive in most every game they played in 2022.
