Matt Eberflus hired as Bears head coach

[Canth]

It's about continuity on the offensive side of the ball in a offense driven, points driven league in which the rules are geared toward the offense. It's easier for an offense to continue on in the same system, with the same primary offensive mind and play caller than it is to start over with a new primary offensive mind/system/playcaller.

If a team's HC is defensive minded, and they are successful and winning because of their offense, their OC/primary offensive mind/play caller is going to be going out on HC interviews. If he gets a HC job, he's likely to take the most effective members of his offensive staff with him to his new team for promotions, they are his guys, not the defensive HC's guys.

And then, the following season, there is the team with the defensive HC, coming off winning season, scrambling to come up with a new offensive staff in an offense driven, points driven league, where the rules are geared toward the offense. Unless that team is coming off a SB win, they are further from winning the SB, not closer to it, because their players are going to be learning a new system, "thinking and not playing," etc, etc.

This has happened twice with the Bears since Ditka. Wannie had the Bears best offense of the modern era in '95 with Ron Turner calling the plays. Turner left after 96 season for the Illinois HC job, in '97 the Bears took a huge step backwards. In John Fox's first year (6-10), Adam Gase coached a moderate uptick in Cutler's performance, and was plucked. The next year they took a huge step backwards, and finished 3-13. Neither the 1995 or 2015 Bears made the playoffs, yet their OC's were promoted elsewhere, and the Bears offenses immediately floundered.

I agree that there has to be a plan on how to develop the coaches on the coaching staff. For Eberflus to be successful long term, he needs to be able to have position coaches who will be able to become the OC and keep the system going. Sure, they may tweak things, but keep the same base terminology and concepts. He will either need to do that, or he will need to find an older, experienced OC that is just content to be an OC and focus on running the show on offense like Tom Moore did for years in Indy.

One point on the Gase example - he had already been the OC in Denver and had several interviews to be a HC before coming to Chicago and be on Fox's staff again. I vaguely recall that it was a bit of surprise that he had not landed a HC job in that hiring round. So, the writing was on the wall more that Gase could/would move on after a year.

 

[dbldrew]

Ok so you disagreed with the comment about Reid and decided to make an even dumber comment about BB.

Think that QB played well because he has a D minded HC that puts the right people around him.

And yes if you take contradictory positions then you are bound to be correct on one of them. The problem is you are bound to be wrong on one of them too and you just come off as a bipolar nutter whose arguments contradict each other.

The comment about Reid was wrong and used BB as a counter point.. and pointing out BB record without Brady is not dumb its just a factual truth..

 

[stelz]

Bellicheck, despite his defensive background, is the Patriots primary offensive mind. He's the primary football mind of the NFL. McDaniels is the playcaller, but he's not the alpha dog of that offense, and McDaniels wasn't even the number two guy when Brady was there.

Tennessee? Have had sustained success with three different OC's in four years, although with defenses ranked 3rd, 12th, 24th and 6th (points allowed.) In LaFleur's only season as OC, they missed the playoffs and he was plucked. Then Arthur Smith was OC, and they made the playoffs both years, followed by Todd Downing, who made the playoffs this past year. Made playoffs in 2/2 first years of every new OC.

John Harbaugh (special teams background) has had success with various offensive coordinators, but were 8-8 the year after their SB win in 2012 with new OC, Jim Caldwell. Then Kubiack was OC in 2014 and they were successful, he left and they missed the playoffs the next three years under two different OC's. The Roman came in, and they have had success, except for this past year because of injuries. Made the playoffs in 2/4 first years of every new OC.

Mike Tomlin won and lost the SB in his first four years with Bruce Arians as OC. Hailey came in and they missed the playoffs the next two years, and then making the playoffs the next four. Fichtner came in and they missed the playoffs two years then made it one time, then Canada came in and they missed the playoffs in 2021. Missed the playoffs in 0/3 first years of every new OC.

So here is Bellicheck, who in in a class by himself, and three outstanding NFL head coaches with defensive or special teams backgrounds, and they combined to miss the playoffs in 4/9 first years of every new OC.

 

[stelz]

How 29 defensive assistants have done as NFL head coaches

Visit the post for more.

touchdownwire.usatoday.com

an article on how 29 defensive assistants have done as head coaches.

 

[stelz]

I agree that there has to be a plan on how to develop the coaches on the coaching staff. For Eberflus to be successful long term, he needs to be able to have position coaches who will be able to become the OC and keep the system going. Sure, they may tweak things, but keep the same base terminology and concepts. He will either need to do that, or he will need to find an older, experienced OC that is just content to be an OC and focus on running the show on offense like Tom Moore did for years in Indy.

One point on the Gase example - he had already been the OC in Denver and had several interviews to be a HC before coming to Chicago and be on Fox's staff again. I vaguely recall that it was a bit of surprise that he had not landed a HC job in that hiring round. So, the writing was on the wall more that Gase could/would move on after a year.

The only thing I would quibble with here, is that OC's that leave to be head coaches are likely to take the most effective members of their offensive staff (their guys) with them.

 

[Canth]

The only thing I would quibble with here, is that OC's that leave to be head coaches are likely to take the most effective members of their offensive staff (their guys) with them.

I thought I read recently that the modern expectation is that a coordinator promoted to be a HC is normally allowed to bring one of the position coaches with him. Sometimes it's more than that, but the 'normal' is he can take one guy.

So, with Eberflus, he will need to have more than one position coach ready to take over as the OC. I also think that is where you get the 'passing game coordinator' or 'run game coordinator' titles added in. The most common promotion has been QB coach/passing game coordinator to OC, but doesn't mean it's right or that the guys coaching wide receivers, runningbacks, etc should also be groomed for the promotion.

 

[stelz]

In Bears recent history a change in OC has resulted in an improvement in record twice. Jauron brought in Joh Shoop in 2001, and his 11th ranked offense (points) and the number one defense (points) gave a 13-3 record and was one and out in the playoffs. Mike Martz took over as OC in 2012 for Love Smith's Bears, and his 21st ranked offense (points) and Smith's number three defense (points) gave the Bears their last playoff win, before losing at home to the Packers in the NFC championship game.

You have to give the new OC's credit in these instances, but these teams were successful because of their defenses more than their offenses.

 

[onebud34]

No, the only person who reported that Poles demanded and/or was given full autonomy was Jeff Hughes (Da Bears Blog). No one else has.

As to onebud, yeah, I don’t know. I’ve not been keeping great track of exactly who interviewed when and how many times. It’s possible they meant to refer to Poles’ second interview, not first, since I do recall that Eberflus interviewed last week and then again on Monday, a day before Poles was hired. Did they end up pushing back that Eberflus interview? I don’t recall.

Eberflus had his second interview after they hired Poles, and there is some fake info going on out there. The Bears requested 1st interviews with both RP and ME around the same time(most likely due to the agent), so this conspiracy notion that Eberflus was a choice before they interviewed RP is just that.

 

[stelz]

I thought I read recently that the modern expectation is that a coordinator promoted to be a HC is normally allowed to bring one of the position coaches with him. Sometimes it's more than that, but the 'normal' is he can take one guy.

So, with Eberflus, he will need to have more than one position coach ready to take over as the OC. I also think that is where you get the 'passing game coordinator' or 'run game coordinator' titles added in. The most common promotion has been QB coach/passing game coordinator to OC, but doesn't mean it's right or that the guys coaching wide receivers, runningbacks, etc should also be groomed for the promotion.

The last I knew, teams could block assistants leaving unless it's for a promotion. Here's a May, 2020 article:

NFL owners approve resolution that allows assistant coaches to interview for coordinator positions

A big change is coming to the NFL's hiring process

www.cbssports.com

Has it changed since then?

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

How 29 defensive assistants have done as NFL head coaches

Visit the post for more.

touchdownwire.usatoday.com

an article on how 29 defensive assistants have done as head coaches.

It’s almost like winning in the NFL is really fucking hard.

 

[Outlaw Josey Cutler]

No it’s just a stupid comparison, please look over their resumes. Plus NE was his 2nd chance, for a reason. To think that Eberflus is even close to the prospect that Belichick was is ridiculous.

I never claimed nor implied Eberflus is "close to the prospect that Beleichick was".

Try not being obtuse.

You said Colts D was 19th in the 4th quarter last year as a rhetorical negative on Eberflus.

Rhetorical negatives are useless because you cannot project success percentages onto HCs based on their last stints.

I purposely used one of the greatest HCs and the lackluster defense he fielded before he became HC for a reason.

The fact that you obtusely refuse to see the flaw in your logic in dismissing Eberflus simply due to last year's D and exaggerate my point to include a statement that I never made is indicative of your continued logical flaws here.

If you are concerned with a first time coach, I share your concerns. I am cautiously pessimistic. If you look at last year's Indy D rankings, you are zeroed in on stats and are committing a logical fallacy.

 

[Toast88]

Eberflus had his second interview after they hired Poles, and there is some fake info going on out there. The Bears requested 1st interviews with both RP and ME around the same time(most likely due to the agent), so this conspiracy notion that Eberflus was a choice before they interviewed RP is just that.

I found the timeline. Looking at it, I’m sure what they meant was that Eberflus had a second interview set up before Poles had his first interview, which is absolutely true.

Although it doesn’t have to mean anything, it does look a little squirrelly:

Jan. 17 - Eberflus first interview

Jan. 19 - Bears set second interview with Eberflus for Jan. 24

Jan. 21 - Poles first interview

Jan. 23 - Bears push back Eberflus’ second interview to Jan. 26

Jan. 25 - Poles second interview, hired as GM.

Jan. 26 - Eberflus second interview

Jan. 27 - Eberflus hired as head coach


It can simply mean that the Bears and Poles were on the same wavelength on head coach, since they did set up a second interview with Eberflus BEFORE they interviewed Poles once.

The conspiracy theorist would say that’s awfully convenient, especially considering the Bears rescheduled Eberflus’ second interview to the day after Poles was hired before Poles got his second interview. Almost like they knew he was going to be a coaching finalist for Poles.

One could, of course, counter argue that Poles told the Bears in his first interview that he was very fond of Eberflus, in which case it would have to just be a massive coincidence that they scheduled a second Eberflus interview before they talked to Poles once.

Then again, they talked to a shit ton of coaches, so…..


I’m not saying ownership *definitely* meddled in Poles’ coaching search. But you could forgive someone for looking at the timeline and thinking that doesn’t look right.

Sources:

Matt Eberflus to have second interview with Bears on Wednesday

Colts DC Matt Eberflus is expected to have his second HC interview with the Bears on Wednesday.

sports.yahoo.com

Bears set second interview with Matt Eberflus

Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus now appears to be a serious candidate for a pair of head coaching jobs. According to multiple reports, Eberflus will have a second interview with the Bears…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Bears set up second interview with Ryan Poles

The Bears interviewed Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles for their General Manager vacancy on Friday and it appears to have gone well. Poles is set for a second interview with…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[Canth]

The last I knew, teams could block assistants leaving unless it's for a promotion. Here's a May, 2020 article:

NFL owners approve resolution that allows assistant coaches to interview for coordinator positions

A big change is coming to the NFL's hiring process

www.cbssports.com

Has it changed since then?

No, it hasn't changed. The official rule is that teams cannot block a promotion to a coordinator role. What I read was more in the vain of the modern gentleman's agreement. And often, it ends up being a promotion anyway.

 

[Outlaw Josey Cutler]

I found the timeline. Looking at it, I’m sure what they meant was that Eberflus had a second interview set up before Poles had his first interview, which is absolutely true.

Although it doesn’t have to mean anything, it does look a little squirrelly:

Jan. 17 - Eberflus first interview

Jan. 19 - Bears set second interview with Eberflus for Jan. 24

Jan. 21 - Poles first interview

Jan. 23 - Bears push back Eberflus’ second interview to Jan. 26

Jan. 25 - Poles second interview, hired as GM.

Jan. 26 - Eberflus second interview

Jan. 27 - Eberflus hired as head coach


It can simply mean that the Bears and Poles were on the same wavelength on head coach, since they did set up a second interview with Eberflus BEFORE they interviewed Poles once.

The conspiracy theorist would say that’s awfully convenient, especially considering the Bears rescheduled Eberflus’ second interview to the day after Poles was hired before Poles got his second interview. Almost like they knew he was going to be a coaching finalist for Poles.

One could, of course, counter argue that Poles told the Bears in his first interview that he was very fond of Eberflus, in which case it would have to just be a massive coincidence that they scheduled a second Eberflus interview before they talked to Poles once.

Then again, they talked to a shit ton of coaches, so…..


I’m not saying ownership *definitely* meddled in Poles’ coaching search. But you could forgive someone for looking at the timeline and thinking that doesn’t look right.

Sources:

Matt Eberflus to have second interview with Bears on Wednesday

Colts DC Matt Eberflus is expected to have his second HC interview with the Bears on Wednesday.

sports.yahoo.com

Bears set second interview with Matt Eberflus

Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus now appears to be a serious candidate for a pair of head coaching jobs. According to multiple reports, Eberflus will have a second interview with the Bears…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Bears set up second interview with Ryan Poles

The Bears interviewed Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles for their General Manager vacancy on Friday and it appears to have gone well. Poles is set for a second interview with…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Now do the reports about what Poles said and did to Polian and Ted and Gearoge re: Quinn and Caldwell.

I am not saying I believe that either. I am saying that no narrative is settled as being KNOWN here.

But that includes this narrative that Poles was hired with a gun to his head saying "Your first move is to hire Eberflus or else".

 

[bears51/40]

What you get from that interview............"Such a good coach, such a good leader." If this becomes true, we got our guy.

 

[Toast88]

Now do the reports about what Poles said and did to Polian and Ted and Gearoge re: Quinn and Caldwell.

I am not saying I believe that either. I am saying that no narrative is settled as being KNOWN here.

But that includes this narrative that Poles was hired with a gun to his head saying "Your first move is to hire Eberflus or else".

That would still back up the conspiracy that Poles was given a finalist list of Quinn, Caldwell and Eberflus, but I hear you. It’s ultimately unknowable, and I admit I have no idea whether ownership meddled or not. If they win on the field, it won’t ultimately matter.

 

[Canth]

I found the timeline. Looking at it, I’m sure what they meant was that Eberflus had a second interview set up before Poles had his first interview, which is absolutely true.

Although it doesn’t have to mean anything, it does look a little squirrelly:

Jan. 17 - Eberflus first interview

Jan. 19 - Bears set second interview with Eberflus for Jan. 24

Jan. 21 - Poles first interview

Jan. 23 - Bears push back Eberflus’ second interview to Jan. 26

Jan. 25 - Poles second interview, hired as GM.

Jan. 26 - Eberflus second interview

Jan. 27 - Eberflus hired as head coach


It can simply mean that the Bears and Poles were on the same wavelength on head coach, since they did set up a second interview with Eberflus BEFORE they interviewed Poles once.

The conspiracy theorist would say that’s awfully convenient, especially considering the Bears rescheduled Eberflus’ second interview to the day after Poles was hired before Poles got his second interview. Almost like they knew he was going to be a coaching finalist for Poles.

One could, of course, counter argue that Poles told the Bears in his first interview that he was very fond of Eberflus, in which case it would have to just be a massive coincidence that they scheduled a second Eberflus interview before they talked to Poles once.

Then again, they talked to a shit ton of coaches, so…..


I’m not saying ownership *definitely* meddled in Poles’ coaching search. But you could forgive someone for looking at the timeline and thinking that doesn’t look right.

Sources:

Matt Eberflus to have second interview with Bears on Wednesday

Colts DC Matt Eberflus is expected to have his second HC interview with the Bears on Wednesday.

sports.yahoo.com

Bears set second interview with Matt Eberflus

Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus now appears to be a serious candidate for a pair of head coaching jobs. According to multiple reports, Eberflus will have a second interview with the Bears…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Bears set up second interview with Ryan Poles

The Bears interviewed Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles for their General Manager vacancy on Friday and it appears to have gone well. Poles is set for a second interview with…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

I think the other aspect of the timing of the announcement of Eberflus's second interview was that it had also just been announced that Jax wanted to bring him in as a 2nd interview/finalist. I had taken the timing (ahead of announcement of 2nd interviews for GM's) to be along the lines of showing Eberflus continued interest and to wait for the Bears.

And again, while the timing is certainly suspect, I don't think you can count out the Ballard connection. Ballard and Poles knew each other in KC and it sounds like they continued to talk. There are articles out there saying that Ballard was separately saying nice things about Eberflus as a HC. It's just as easy to connect those dots. IMO, Poles was being told the Bears committee liked Eberflus, he has Ballard telling him Eberflus is ready, hell go ahead and add in his shared agent Trace Armstrong as a resource saying Eberflus could be a good head coach. He does his interview, likes him, they have a shared vision of the team, etc and he decides to go with Eberflus and start focusing on building the staff, really diving into changes in the front office and evaluating the roster, etc vs dragging out the process of the head coach hire just to make a similar decision.

I doubt we will ever know what Poles thought of the various offensive side coaching candidates. The well was not particularly deep for HC candidates in general this year - especially for all the openings. Leftwich to Jax has been rumored for weeks and seemed obvious, DaBoll to the NYG became a connection when Schoen was hired, and Hackett took the Denver job essentially overnight as Poles was just within 24 hours of being made GM. So, he never really had a chance to consider him. At that point, the most obvious, talked about, and available OC to HC are taken. You can try and say McDaniels, but I go back to the Ballard connection - you really think he would consider McDaniels after that fiasco and to his former colleague/friend Ballard?

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I understand how the Bears ended up with the defensive background HC. There just were not that many options from the offensive side of the ball that were ready. And the OC's that are left in the playoffs all have serious questions about how much is really them vs how much is the HC. In a bit of irony, those OC are the guys that likely need/want to now go work for a defensive minded HC to prove they can run the offense/call plays to really be ready to become a HC.

 

[maxhatter]

I found the timeline. Looking at it, I’m sure what they meant was that Eberflus had a second interview set up before Poles had his first interview, which is absolutely true.

Although it doesn’t have to mean anything, it does look a little squirrelly:

Jan. 17 - Eberflus first interview

Jan. 19 - Bears set second interview with Eberflus for Jan. 24

Jan. 21 - Poles first interview

Jan. 23 - Bears push back Eberflus’ second interview to Jan. 26

Jan. 25 - Poles second interview, hired as GM.

Jan. 26 - Eberflus second interview

Jan. 27 - Eberflus hired as head coach


It can simply mean that the Bears and Poles were on the same wavelength on head coach, since they did set up a second interview with Eberflus BEFORE they interviewed Poles once.

The conspiracy theorist would say that’s awfully convenient, especially considering the Bears rescheduled Eberflus’ second interview to the day after Poles was hired before Poles got his second interview. Almost like they knew he was going to be a coaching finalist for Poles.

One could, of course, counter argue that Poles told the Bears in his first interview that he was very fond of Eberflus, in which case it would have to just be a massive coincidence that they scheduled a second Eberflus interview before they talked to Poles once.

Then again, they talked to a shit ton of coaches, so…..


I’m not saying ownership *definitely* meddled in Poles’ coaching search. But you could forgive someone for looking at the timeline and thinking that doesn’t look right.

Sources:

Matt Eberflus to have second interview with Bears on Wednesday

Colts DC Matt Eberflus is expected to have his second HC interview with the Bears on Wednesday.

sports.yahoo.com

Bears set second interview with Matt Eberflus

Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus now appears to be a serious candidate for a pair of head coaching jobs. According to multiple reports, Eberflus will have a second interview with the Bears…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Bears set up second interview with Ryan Poles

The Bears interviewed Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles for their General Manager vacancy on Friday and it appears to have gone well. Poles is set for a second interview with…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

I understand what you are saying about the timeline but I think some are implying that the first time the Bears and Poles spoke was during the initial interview. That's simply not the case, I'm sure they had multiple interactions with Poles and his agent, Trace Armstrong ahead of that meeting. One of the first things that would be discussed with all GM candidates is whom they are looking at as a head coach. The list of head coaching candidates came from their preliminary discussions with their GM candidates

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

I guarantee Sean Payton will be coaching another team before his contract expires. Sean Payton has the power and has welled it. The Saints aren’t going to hire a Head coach for 1 year and then give Sean Payton his job back.
Aint gonna happen.

Ahhh, this reminds me of when people said the same thing about Bill Cowherd after he retired... ?

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

I understand what you are saying about the timeline but I think some are implying that the first time the Bears and Poles spoke was during the initial interview. That's simply not the case, I'm sure they had multiple interactions with Poles and his agent, Trace Armstrong ahead of that meeting. One of the first things that would be discussed with all GM candidates is whom they are looking at as a head coach. The list of head coaching candidates came from their preliminary discussions with their GM candidates

For all we know, that list could have come even from the agents for these executives before they even spoke to the candidates.