The Zoom link for Matt Eberflus‘ 9 a.m. press conference was sent to the media two minutes after the original scheduled time.
The speculation leading up to Eberflus’ standard day-after-game presser was that he might be fired for how the final seconds played out in the 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.
At 9:05 a.m. Eberflus appeared and his press conference started like usual — with the head coach recapping the game. Once that finished, Eberflus was asked about his job security and if he had spoken to general manager Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren.
“I had several conversations with the guys,” Eberflus said. “I always meet with, debrief after the game. We talked about the game, talked about decisions that were made, plays that were made, plays that weren’t made and we talked about the whole game. Again, I’ll meet with those guys later on this afternoon but just the normal operation that we always have postgame.”
When Eberflus was asked about his confidence in keeping his job moving forward, he expressed certainty.
“Like I said, I’m just going to be working on finishing up this game, doing a good job of evaluating that, our after-action report, as we always do, and then I’ll be working in to San Francisco,” Eberflus said. “Again, those are conversations we’ll have and again I’m confident that I’ll be working on San Francisco and getting ready for that game.”
That tone can change depending on the meeting with Poles and Warren later today, but if Eberflus does retain his job, it shouldn’t be too surprising, considering the Bears have never fired a coach during the season.
That uncertainty, though, can linger and directly impact the players. Eberflus said the team will meet on Monday after the players return from their weekend off, but Eberflus still plans to connect with some of the guys about how the final 32 seconds against Detroit ended. The Bears’ head coach elected not to use his final timeout after Caleb Williams was sacked, and the rookie quarterback threw an incomplete pass down the field as time expired.
“Yeah, I’ve talked to a few players and I’ll reach out to a couple more guys as we go through this day today,” Eberflus said.
That’s Eberflus’ plan unless something changes throughout the day.
