Chicago Bears

I was apprehensive about signing a defense-oriented coach when it was clear that the focus should've been on Fields and the offense, since the defense looked fine at the time of his hiring. Thing is, Eberflus really hasn't done anything since to make me think that was the right decision, and the defense seems no better than it was before he was hired, to say nothing of how the offense has been. I still believe Fields has the ability to be our franchise QB, but he lacks the tools and coaching at this time. As others have said, having Caleb Williams in the same spot wouldn't likely yield much different results at game's end with the current coaching staff.

I didnt like the focus on getting a defensive minded HC since we needed to develop Fields, but i also understood why the bears leaned that way since their prior hires did the same thing (going from Lovie to offensive minded Trestman to veteran defensive mind Fox to young upstart Nagy to defense again in Eberflus) but my concerns was the stats of the Colts looked okay on defense while he was DC, but fans were very happy to see him go which wasnt a good sign. My biggest issue was the fact they only seemed to interview Dan Quinn (another defensive minded HC because Ted Phillips has a type) and Jim Caldwell to go with Flus and neither of those looked like great candidates for what the Bears needed. I wanted Daboll, but he is Fat Nagy and i dont think we really missed out on him. It wouldve been great to see the Bears interview some young upstarts like a guy named Mike McDaniel or even O'Connell, but that was never going to happen with Polian consulting the Bears. So yeah, like i always do i had high hopes for whoever we hired but ended up disappointed. Rinse and repeat this offseason and will be back here in 4 years if we are lucky, 2 or 3 years if being realistic lol.

I remember it as a reaction to balance things after Nagy. We had penalty issues and the Club Dub culture, it gave the impression that there was a lack of accountability and discipline. To me it felt like they prioritized a disciplined approach, so they fell in love with the Eberflus CEO-style head coach.

At the time, I thought it felt like a practical but not exciting hire. Similar to how we grabbed John Fox to rebuild the culture.

I don't think Eberflue is a bad coach, he's just mediocre. His approach seems to be building the culture the Bears FO wants, but we're plagued with execution issues at every level of the game. We're not good enough to overcome the execution issues, especially when the mistakes are coming from the coordinators as well as the players.

Not ideal

I think we were just happy it wasn’t Dan Quinn lol. But I remember this last off season everyone thought he was a good coach and if you suggested anything different after a 3 win season you were destroyed.

Just on the offensive side of the ball they passed on Daboll (jury still out on this, but they did win a playoff game with Daniel Jones in Y1), Mike McDaniel (they didn't even want to interview him LOL), Eric Bienemy (understandable because replacing Nagy), and Doug Pederson.

All of which would have been a better choice than Eberflus with a 2nd year QB. Although I'm not sure Quinn or Caldwell would have been any better and it seems those were the other realistic choices we were considering. The McCaskey family is so so lost.

It was a meh hire. I personally hated it but it seemed like the Pace/Fox pairing (although Fox was far more accomplished).

I’m not really sure why people were happy it was him versus Caldwell or Quinn. Both have had more success than Eberflus and I would’ve trusted Caldwell far more with Fields.

I am a minor Colts fan, and I was unimpressed -- especially since his defense couldn't stop the Urban Meyer Jaguars from knocking the Colts out of the playoffs the previous year.

Personally, I laughed. That the doofus McCaskey hired the same guys (Ryan/Matt), with the same backgrounds (asst. GM/Coordinators) using the same outside consultant process (old guy Polian, rather than old guy Acorsi) while consulting with the Maras and Rooneys.

When he was hired, I knew Eberflus wouldn't be here when the new stadium was finished.

I remember Colts fans being pretty 'meh' about him when they were asked.

Me personally most defensive guys usually field a physical team I was expecting that at the very least.

Most defensive guys field disciplined teams, I was also expecting that.

The Luke Getsy hire is the one that bothered me. Forget the division stuff, me personally I couldn’t hire an offensive guy who worked with a top tier QB after he was established not before. I need the guy who makes the Baker Mayfields and the Geno Smiths look better than they are.

The broad shoulders collectively shrugged

Indianapolis fans had no issues letting him go which is always bad.

He was a DC without any elite tier units and his whole strategy was utilize an elite front 4 to generate pressure and rely on talent > creative scheme and gameplan which is hilarious

Was a bad hire from the beginning

There's no such thing as consensus in the NFL. The media money machine is built on the concept of disagreement as entertainment.

That being said, he was billed as all the good stuff Lovie did (Tampa 2, HITS, etc.) while being modern and capable of producing a modernized team that could compete. And that's why trying to recreate the past is just never a good idea.

My first thought was, “I don’t know who that is but he can’t be worse than what we’ve had in the past”

We dont really know anything. Most of us just are cautiously optimistic.

Eberfl-who?

“Who? Why? Whatever, I don’t even know much.”

Resounding "meh" is my recollection, with some relief that it wasn't Quinn or Caldwell. I think people were more open to a defensive coach/older guy because they were so disgusted by Nagy, but there were definitely people who wanted Daboll or Bienemy.

People weren't thrilled but tried to make do. We all kind of knew it had more potential to be a bust than a success.

Mostly people were obsessed with the idea that nagy was the stupidest coach ever and was singlehandedly sinking both fields and the entire roster, and literally anyone would be better.

I wanted an offensive oriented head coach, so i was disappointed.

I figured he’s a true ‘football guy’ coming from the Indy Defense that was top notch, essentially thought the team was in good hands coming off Nagy.

Also odds were favorable a second ‘Matt’ would turn out different.

Uninspiring but somewhat non-controversial/safe.

I disliked it but like everyone else starting a job I thought he deserved a chance

Probably seen as the least-exciting HC hire.

He had a different last name than the other guy. And a slightly above average defense in Indy. Otherwise didn't know shit about him or Poles, for that matter

This sub was excited because everyone here gives the benefit of the doubt to McCaskey hires before they’ve proven anything for some reason

Pretty sure everyone either hated the hire or at best were cautiously optimistic

Who?

My recollection was that it was overwhelming negative with a side of "let's wait and see." But generally speaking, Flus immediately started with the acronyms and he was not well received.

I remember thinking “Eberflus? TF?”

I was disappointed as he seemed to be a nobody chosen because of Polian’s connection/familiarity to Colts than anything

Cover 2 bad, he runs the cover 2 so he is bad. I his was my thought process m.

It didn’t wow me but was open minded and gave him a shot

I didn’t know much about Eberflus and hoped it would be a good hire. I have long preferred an offensive-minded HC so that was my biggest reservation.

But overall it was mostly-

Meh hire. People weren't happy it was a defensive coach because we needed someone to develop Fields, but people were hoping Getsy was good because of his time with Rodgers. I don't think people were blind sided with how bad it turned out.

I hated it. Not a huge name among all the coaches who were rumored to get hired. And above all else he's a defensive head coach. In this day and age. Like, who TF does that?

I was underwhelmed, I wasn’t thrilled with the finalists or the process in general of picking finalists before they hired Poles (who I was excited about). I had talked myself into Dan Quinn as a decent option but felt Eberflus was a boring “meh” option. But I did like his CEO mindset and focusing on maximizing player talent (sort of the anti-Nagy). I didn’t think he’d be this bad for sure

I remember one dude in here was crowning him our savior after two preseason games. Homie called me a doomer because I said we should wait until he gets results in the regular season before crowning him as a savior.

Hope he’s out there and miserable!

I was unsure with him, but I was on board with Poles, felt he was gonna be good. So I was willing to give him a chance.

It wasn’t well received. The biggest cause for criticism was that they hired a defensive HC rather than an offensive HC who could develop Fields

Poles hired the worst option from the mediocre pool of candidates the powers that be forced on him. Caldwell was the best option in my opinion.

I remember during the off-season, all this hype around our team with near to no one saying "hey, what if Eberflus and Getsy are shit?" Most just saying their first year was a tanking year. At least from what I saw, nearly all just assumed he would be decent at the very least.

At the time I preferred Daboll but he doesn't look very good either, so...

When I heard him going on about his HITS philosophy in some of the introductory interviews I was immediately out. Guys who use acronyms like that in professional sports don’t know what they’re doing.

Who?