Ahead of the Bears’ seminal quarterback decision, they will have a new play-caller. The team is firing two-year offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. The Bears are also moving on from quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, per Pelissero.
It does indeed appear Matt Eberflus will be back. After Ryan Poles praised the job Eberflus did in his second season, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports the defensive-oriented HC is set to stay for a third year. The former Colts DC is expected to remain the Bears’ defensive play-caller, per Rapoport, though the early expectation is Eberflus hiring a DC to at least be a key voice in game-planning.
“He was steady at the wheel,” Poles said of the 53-year-old HC, via the Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley. “He fought to get back above water and get things the way they were. His ability to adapt and adjust, really take input from the players, to get this thing on the right path was incredible. I think a lot of people would have been in really bad shape and crumbled to the pressure. He got better with the pressure, and so did our football team.”
The Bears evaluated their staff over the past two days, and although Eberflus hovered on a hot seat early this season, the Bears rallying to finish 7-10 represented progress after a lengthy losing streak spanned from the second half of last season through October 2023. As the calendar turned to 2024, Eberflus was not expected to be fired. This news assuredly points to Poles staying on for a third year; the GM was viewed as a better candidate to stick than Eberflus coming into 2024.
Chicago improved from 29th to 12th in total defense from 2022-23 and from 32nd to 20th in points allowed in Eberflus’ second season. The Bears hired Eberflus with the intention he would be a CEO coach, rather than the play-caller, SI.com’s Albert Breer tweets. Wearing both hats this season following DC Alan Williams‘ September exit, Eberflus did make strides. It will be interesting, then, to see if the Bears stick with Eberflus as their defensive play-caller. Despite a 3-14 debut season and a 1-5 start to the ’23 campaign, the veteran defensive coach has survived.
In addition to Getsy and Janocko, wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert and running backs coach Omar Young, per ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin and CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, will not join Poles and Eberflus next season. Despite improvement from Justin Fields and a career-best season from trade acquisition D.J. Moore, the Bears are removing the top pieces from their offensive staff. They have been viewed as a bit more likely to trade Fields and use the No. 1 overall pick on USC’s Caleb Williams, though definitive traction in either direction remains elusive. But Fields is close to becoming a more expensive commodity, with his fifth-year option decision on the horizon come May, while Williams would be tethered to a rookie contract for at least three years.
Chicago’s offense improved from 28th to 20th in yardage and from 23rd to 18th in scoring over Getsy’s two seasons, though the ex-Packers assistant remained in the crosshairs. A change at this juncture would point to the Bears leaning toward making the long-rumored move to trade Fields and start over with a higher-ceiling rookie. This was the 39-year-old Getsy’s first OC gig; he had previously served as Aaron Rodgers‘ QBs coach.
Thanks largely to Fields’ gifts as a runner, the Bears led the NFL in rushing in 2022 and finished second this season. The latter ranking came despite the Ohio State alum missing four games due to injury. No single Bears rusher totaled more than 700 yards, however, and only Khalil Herbert topped 500 among the team’s three-headed running back setup. WR2 Darnell Mooney (414 yards) also did not make much of an impact in his fourth season, despite the former fifth-round pick being a previous 1,000-yard receiver. Chicago finished 27th in passing yards, inviting more speculation about Fields’ Windy City future.
Janocko, 35, came to Chicago after seven seasons in Minnesota. While Janocko spent his entire NFL career with the Vikings, he only coached quarterbacks in one of those seasons (2021). Tolbert, conversely, has been a specialist throughout his career. The 56-year-old assistant has coached wide receivers for six teams since 2003. On the Cardinals’ staff when Anquan Boldin broke through as a rookie, Tolbert later coached Demaryius Thomas for seven seasons in Denver, collecting a Super Bowl ring for the latter stay. The Bears hired him after four seasons with the Giants. Young came to Chicago from the college ranks in 2022; the team promoted him from the quality control level to RBs coach last year. Assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts has also been let go, the team announced.
It seems unlikely Eberflus will sign an extension, as his four-year deal runs through 2025, but the Bears showing faith in their coach to keep him in place despite the likelihood of a No. 1 overall QB investment coming in. Should that happen, the team’s next OC hire will obviously become quite important.
Awesome and we can restart the cycle of drafting a QB with a lame duck coach so he can learn 2 different offenses his first two seasons or keel JF and have him learn his 3rd different one in 4 years ?
Or do they believe in fields and feel it’s a coach issue and not fields ?
Fields still doesn’t know when to scramble and make plays, instead of taking sacks. Still isn’t an accurate passer under pressure. That can’t be coached.
Fields ain’t it, everyone has to accept that, what’s about to happen has already happened, the bears are who you thought they were
I can’t imagine they trust Fields to learn a new playbook when he struggled with Getsy’s high school playbook.
Obviously the Bears thought Getsy made Rodgers what he is today. Wow that theory was flawed. Leave it to the Bears to fire half a coaching staff and set up a worse situation. Bears fans can only hope that Warren and Poles see the need to either fire them all or none of them. Only the Bears can do things half way and expect it to turn out right.
Well whether they believe in him or not, he’s still most likely going to have to learn his 3rd different offense in 4 years, not a great way to set a kid up for success
Lol this was puzzling. Just fire the coach and start over with everything. 2 coaches in 2 years for the new QB when he’s drafted in Apr.
Such a chicken $hit decision to keep Eberflus. He’s a defensive coordinator who hasn’t got a clue about offense. Getsy was HIS guy and Fields lack of major improvement, at least partly, shows how they were all just treading water.
So which is it? The suspense is killing me. Do they want fields or not?
Judging by this move…It appears they’re taking a quarterback in the draft. I can’t envision a scenario where Fields comes back under a 3rd OC in 4 seasons. But it’s the Bears so who knows. They had their chance to wipe the slate clean and get a very good coach in here and they blew it. Here we go round and round the coach/coordinator/quarterback carousel again. So Bears.
That’s insane. I wonder what they want for him and who will take up on the offer
Who says they could get a very good coach to Chicago? Harbaugh wasn’t coming to Chicago. The other names are all unproven flavor of the months or are defensive coaches which they already have. The one wildcard would be taking a chance on a very young Bobby Slowik with one year as coordinator experience or possibly entice Todd Monken to come home.
Who says Harbaugh wasn’t coming to Chicago? He’s the only very good coach out there. All the rest are coordinators who have never been HCs. And no one knows who will be a good HC until they are HCs. For every 10 failed HCs there is 1 Sean McVay or Mike Shanahan.
Harbaugh would never get the Bear job. He already had problems in that organization going back to when he played, and now the old B1G commissioner is team president. It’s not odd to you that he’s never even come up once in conversations for their job, and it’s been open a lot of times since he’s been in coaching? Colts either.
Who would you rather have…Ben Johnson/Jim Harbaugh/Mike Vrabel/ Bobby Slowik or Matt Eberflus? Cmon what are we doing here?? Poles backed himself into a corner by staying the course.
Harbaugh definitely, but that’s never happening. Vrabel just went 6-11, so I don’t know how that’s any better than Eberflus. The others have never coached, so I don’t know how that’s better than him either. Did you think this Bear roster was a ten-win team this year? They finished about where they should have, and they blew a few games this year. He’s clearly a capable coach as he beat both Shanahan and Belichick in his career, so see it through with a roster that isn’t missing significant parts like last year and earlier this year.
What percentage of ownership will they have to give Williams if they draft him?
How much CAN they give him, what with Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love both already having pieces of that pie?
Bears have a chance to start completely over with a new franchise QB and are keeping this awful head coach. What a disaster
The Bears need to move on from Fields now. Learning his 3rd new playbook in 3 years will be too much. He’s never going to be great at reading defenses even though he made strides in a lot of other areas. I think they can still trade down and get a great QB as I don’t really believe in Caleb Williams. They need some serious input from whoever the next OC wants to work with. Plus they need a serious B/U QB whoever they draft. Petermann ain’t it and some weapons for the kid.
Great move! Caleb Williams is not a leader of men-
Justin is a leader & respected.
Now get the right OC-
Justin Fields is not a decent starting QB in the NFL. He will be home next. New OC will help desire the next Bears QB. And I doubt it’s Williams. He’s Fields 2.0, just smaller.
Fields still can’t, after 3 years, read a D, process information, find the open WR, throw open a receiver. He holds the ball too long because he can’t process at the line. He takes to many sacks. Fumbles every game. He’s a college system QB. If his first read isn’t open, he takes off. Cause he can’t go through his progressions while in the pocket quick enough.
The McCaskey family are cash poor owners. All their equity is in the Bears. They don’t have other businesses to borrow from. They can’t afford to pay Eberflus’s $4.5m/y salary in a buyout plus the $15-20m/y it’ll take to sign Harbaugh.
Wouldn’t it be a hoot if the Bears draft Caleb Williams and he follows through on his threat to not play for them.
Get Greg Roman on the phone immediately.
Stability with a bottom 3rd ranked NFL QB. He had an overall good WR corp, good TE, and one of the top running games in the NFL. Not sure how you say the RBs suck. He still can’t process a play in under 2.5 seconds.
Trading Fields is their worst move possible. Finally can have some stability at QB, move back and still get Harrison Jr, and still have another high end 1st. Bad organizations make bad moves. Fields may not be generational, but you can 100% win with him and adequate pieces surrounding him. Still only has 1 decent WR option, RB’s all suck, and only now do they have a decently good defense.
Stability of what? Having a QB who is in the bottom 1/3 of all major stat categories?
Last 10 Super Bowl Winning Qbs
Mahomes
Stafford
Brady
Mahomes
Brady
Foles
Brady
Manning
Brady
Wilson
With the exception of Foles, all significantly better than Fields. Lets try and find a qb that we can win because of not just win with.
Manning was benched for Brock Osweiler and was highly inneffective in 2015. Fields wins with that Broncos defense. No disputing that. Brady is the best to ever touch the gridiron, and Mahomes is the 2nd. Not to mention Brady had great defenses. Wilson had a top 5 greatest defense of all time.
Hate to tell you, they won’t win with Williams, or Maye. Its the Bears. They wouldn’t win if they were the only team competing for a SB…
Great, so when the Bears regress next season with a rookie QB (Caleb Williams) then Kevin Warren will fire Ryan Poles and Eberflus and hire his “own guy” as GM then this whole cycle starts all over again
What the Bears do at QB depends on what they do with the trade down of the #1 pick. If they can trade down and get another #1 next year and have 2 #1’s and 2 # 2’s then they can chase another QB next year. Either way they can draft a QB at 9, Somebody will fall trust me, and still get 2 things they need. A WR and a QB. It all depends on who the OC is. Is he a dropback QB fan? Is he a West Coast offense fan? Is he adaptable to scheme for the guys he has? I mean you would think that last thing is a no brainer but a lot of guys insist on guys playing THEIR system rigidly. With Fields or whoever is the QB he better be adaptable. If they trade down to 5 or 6 they can still get a top QB and a WR or OT. They can even trade down from 9 and still get another WR or OT and more picks. There’s a lot oif ways this can go depending on the hire.
If they’ve fired the OC then they are likely going to move Fields too. No point in keeping him and then have him learn another offense.
He’s going to have to learn a new offense either way.
He was Hacketts protege while in GB so there you go..
I know. people saw how he runs an offense. This should have happened halfway through his first year.
What OC is going to want to come to Chicago and work for a lame duck head coach?
This is exactly what I was thinking
There are only 32 of these jobs around. I don’t think you can let Eberflus pick them because the last ones he picked were beyond bad. Poles and Warren should make these picks so Eberflus doesn’t pick some more of his friends. But they might have to dip into the college ranks. There are a lot of Head Coach jobs so OC’s will be at a premium. They should of just gone after Ben Johnson for HC- Problem solved.
Eric Bienemy just did it. Plenty of people will want the opportunity.
Anyone got a quick rundown on Williams vs Maye?
“He was steady at the wheel,” Poles said of the 53-year-old HC.
link to thumbs.dreamstime.com
So was the captain of the Titanic.
Anyone thinking that Drake Maye might be the pick at 1:1?
Caleb is only 6’0” and lack of a pro style offense at USC are a couple flags for me. Not saying he won’t be great… but higher risk here.
Maye at 6’4” 240lbs with a more accurate arm and coming out of a pro style offense? Not as good at scrambling or throwing off balance… but not terrible at it either. Does he have any red flags?
I found this on nfldraftbuzz: This is not my opinion just the scouting report I found.
SCOUTING REPORT: WEAKNESSES
Maye is an excellent scrambler however he often takes too long to decide who to throw to putting huge pressure on the offensive line.
He’s often slow in his progressions and had trouble with some relatively simple coverage rotations, and when his first read isn’t open he struggles to get to the next guy.
Needs to refine his base mechanics through passes, avoiding a narrowed rotation that can impact throw efficiency.
Footwork sometimes shows inconsistency, particularly in pocket navigation, leading to a loss of stability and accuracy.
Prone to making risky decisions under pressure, occasionally resulting in turnovers or forced throws in challenging situations.
Justin Fields was 23rd in pass attempts and only threw 16 times in the loss to Green Bay. I’m glad Getsy got fired and I won’t have to see anymore 3rd and 12 bubble screens called from that idiot. I hope they trade down and still draft a QB and get an additional 1st rounder for next year.
Pretty tough when both the Pats and Skins need QBs. I guess you could swap with the Redskins and take Maye, but would they give you 2 first round picks to move up from 2 to 1?
I have been all for keeping Fields. But I think the OC hiring will be an indicator. I think a Kliff Kingsbury-Caleb Williams tandem might be the best option. This past season Kingsbury has been Caleb’s QB coach and passing game coordinator. Watching film CW makes incredible throw. He seems like he’s a pain in the @ss deva. But most elite QBs are. I think the transition would be easier for CW if there was a familiar face and offense to have coming into the league.
With Fields it would be the 3rd OC and 3rd system for the 24 year old. I think that may be too much to ask for, and we would be doing him and the team a disservice. I would love if Fields could be the man and we can trade back in the draft for a fortune in draft capital. Last year’s trade was epic. But I think we can get someone like Kliff to come in and work with Caleb on day one.
The Bears organizational acceptance for mediocrity.
12/16/2018
Last time the Bears beat the Pack. Looks like 8 years might be a reality.
Bears doing Bears things.
No Super Bowl for you!!!!
Justin Fields is not a quarterback. Anyone with his won-loss record would be riding the bench. He should change to a running back who, at times, could throw a pass. If you stop and look, the only Ohio State quarterback who has made it in the pros big time is CJ Stoud, and the Bears could have had him last year.