The Chicago Bears can’t catch a break. A terrible 4-8 record, sitting at the bottom of the NFC North, and in the conference also they were among the lowest-ranked teams at the 14th position. Inevitably, they let go of their head coach mid-season for the first time in their history. The timeout debacle in the loss against the Lions even led to a confrontation in the locker room, but the Bears’ problems don’t seem to subside.

When Matt Eberflus decided against calling a time-out with only 32 seconds left on the clock inside the Ford Field, the writing was on the wall. The shadow of sideline errors against the Packers and the Commanders loomed large and Eberflus had to ultimately pay the price. But as the Bears reeled from that setback, their defensive end was at the receiving end of a hefty NFL fine.

DE Daniel Hardy got more aggressive than required in the first quarter of the Vikings game in Week 12. Subsequently, the league decided to put its foot down and fined Hardy $5,083 for a late hit under the unnecessary roughness in the first quarter of the game, last Sunday. The NFL announces on Saturday the fines from the previous week of games. The Vikings WR Brandon Powell was at the receiving end as he took the hit.

When the incident occurred the officials hadn’t given any call, but it has come to bite Hardy in the back. The Bears were lucky a penalty wasn’t called, since the defensive end has already had four special teams penalties this season.

After spending the 2023 season on the practice squad, Hardy made it to the roster this season. Though he has played only 10 defensive snaps this season, he is an important special teamer, with 260 snaps (83.33%).

While the fine imposed by the NFL does little to lift the morale of the beleaguered Bears, there were more concerning reports coming in after the defeat against the Lions in Week 13.

After finding their way back into the game, the Bears had the chance to send the game into overtime. As they charged into the opposition, Caleb Williams was sacked on second-and-20 from the 35-yard line, with only 32 seconds left on the clock. But against nearly everyone’s expectations, Eberflus decided against going for a time-out.

They went ahead for the next play but were snapped with a mere six seconds left. Williams’s weak pass at the end was incomplete and hit the ground. When questioned after the game, Eberflus defended his decision.

“Our hope was, because it was third [down] going into fourth, that we would re-rack that play at 18 seconds, throw it inbounds, get into field goal range and then call the timeout. That’s where it was and that was our decision-making process on that. Again, we were outside the field goal range, so we needed to get a few more yards in there, as close as we can get, and then we were going to call a timeout, and that’s why we held that last timeout,” he said.

In response, wide receiver Keenan Allen though came out and said, “I feel like we did enough as players to win the game. You got to talk to the people who control those things. However, the situation inside the locker room was boiling over.

According to a report from The Athletic, Eberflus tried to preach about team unity in the locker room after the painful loss, but it didn’t go over well with some of the players. Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson reportedly went off on Eberflus and was joined by other players who questioned the head coach over not using the team’s final timeout.

An unnamed player also told The Athletic, “We felt as players it’s been too many instances where we fought our way back into games to lose because of bad time management and decision-making.” It seems the Bears’ management felt the same way and Eberflus was fired shortly after the game.

Meanwhile, the former HC has broken his silence for the first time since his departure from Chicago.

Matt Eberflus praises teammates and management after Bears tenure ends

GM Ryan Poles was at the center of the storm. He was called upon by Chairman George H. McCaskey and President and CEO Kevin Warren to discuss the franchise situation and a decision was ultimately made.

But instead of showing any remorse about the scenario, Matt Eberflus was gracious in his last message and said. “I would like to thank the McCaskey family and Ryan Poles for the opportunity to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the players for all of their effort, dedication, and resilience.”

Cut to the team, they are now working on new strategies under offensive coordinator  Thomas Brown, who has been put in interim charge. Can he turn around their fortunes? We’ll find out in a week when they play the 49ers in week 14 on December 18. It would be exciting.