Former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has spoken for the first time since he was fired by the team on Friday after a horrific clock management mistake.
With Chicago facing the Lions on Thanksgiving and driving down the field with about 30 seconds left, Eberflus refused to call a timeout after quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked – leading to a frantic last play of the game and ultimately their sixth straight loss.
He was dismissed from his role the following day, and he’s now released a statement expressing his gratitude for the organization and his ex-players.
‘I would like to thank the McCaskey family and [GM] Ryan Poles for the opportunity to be the head coach of the Bears,’ Eberflus said. ‘I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the players for all of their effort, dedication and resilience.
‘In every situation – practice, games and especially in the face of adversity, you stayed together and gave great effort for your team and each other.’
The Chicago Bears fired Matt Eberflus after their Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions
Caleb Williams was sacked with more than 30 seconds left but Eberflus declined to call timeout
‘What I am most proud of was the way you carried yourself both on and off the field and represented the Bears organization with class in the community.
‘To the fans, thank you for your support and passion. I will always have a deep appreciation for the Bears organization and the city of Chicago.’
Eberflus – who bizarrely conducted a Friday press conference just hours before being fired – stood by his decision to not call a timeout as the clock continued to run down.
Williams hit the ground with 32 seconds left at the Detroit 41 yard-line, with Chicago looking to get several more yards on third down before kicking a potential game-tying field goal.
Eberflus said the plan was to snap the third down play with 18 seconds left, though there were only six seconds left when the play actually began.
‘I like what we did there,’ Eberflus said of his decision not to call timeout on the play. ‘Again, once it’s under seven (seconds), you’re going to call a timeout there – actually under 12 and then really you don’t have an option because it’s third to fourth, you have to throw it into the end zone then.
‘To me it’s – I think we handled it the right way, I do believe that you just re-rack the play, get it in bounds and call timeout and that’s why we held it and didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.’
Just prior to being fired, Eberflus revealed things were ‘normal’ and said he was working on the team’s game against the San Francisco 49ers on December 8.
However, he never got that opportunity after all, with Thomas Brown named interim coach.
