Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… the Chicago Bears lost in gut-wrenching fashion on Sunday afternoon, in large part due to a crucial miscalculation by head coach Matt Eberflus, who has just as many heart-breaking, logic-defying losses on his resume than he does wins. Even less surprisingly, after the game, Eberflus is unwilling to take accountability for the fact that this loss is, at least in part, on his shoulders. At least the guy is consistent in that regard. Allow me to set the scene:
After the Green Bay Packers scored a go-ahead touchdown with just under 3 minutes to go to take a 20-19 lead in Chicago, the Bears got the ball back, and thanks to a pair of high-pressure connections from one rookie (Caleb Williams) to another rookie (Rome Odunze), the Bears were in business and marching toward field goal range.
Following a 12-yard completion to Keenan Allen, the Bears were indeed within the range of kicker Cairo Santos, but with plenty of time remaining and a timeout left to burn, conventional wisdom would’ve suggested that the Bears, just for the sake of insurance, ran the ball a few more times to try to improve their field position. Naturally, they didn’t, and then as Bears fans have come to expect at this point, this happened:
After the game, Matt Eberflus was asked about his decision to pass on the opportunity to gain a few more yards. And in Vintage Flus fashion, he didn’t even entertain the idea of taking accountability.
“They were a loaded box there,” Eberflus said, per the CHGO Bears account on X. “You could say you could run another play and try for a couple of yards there, but you risk a fumble.”
Yes, because historically, in this situation fumbles are far more likely than missed or blocked field goals.
The Chicago Bears need a new head coach… and maybe an exorcism
As a Bears fan myself, I just don’t know what to do. After the kick was blocked, I texted my dad, who is also a Bears fan, “This is just stupid,” only there was an expletive starting with the letter F between the words ‘just’ and ‘stupid.’ Only three weeks ago, after the Bears gave up the soul-crushing Hail Mary to Jayden Daniels and the Commanders, I sent a similar message: “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” only there was another F-word thrown in there between ‘be’ and ‘kidding.’
This game marked the 11th straight loss to the Packers, which is Chicago’s longest losing streak in the history of this rivalry. And to be clear, at least in the time I’ve been alive, this has been a one-sided affair. Green Bay has won 51 of 65 games since 1992. That includes heartbreakers in the 2010 NFC Championship Game, a brutal last-second loss in the final week of the 2013 season that allowed the Pack to clinch the NFC North, a blown 20-point lead in the opening week of the 2018 season, and yes, this one.
But we don’t need an exorcism just for Green Bay. Think about the Double Doink. The Hail Mary loss against Washington. The Chris Conte Game. Collapses to Denver and Detroit within a month and a half of each other last year. Those are all within the last ten years, and surely, I’ve missed some that have undoubtedly just blurred together.
All I know is someone needs to light a damn candle and get rid of all the bad juju (and the head coach) at Halas Hall.
