On Monday, the Chicago Bears announced the hiring of a defensive analyst to help the coaching staff. They could be a potential option for the Bears as an interim head coach if the team decides to fire head coach Matt Eberflus midseason.
The Bears have never fired a head coach in the middle of a season. But they’ve never had a head coach as bad as Eberflus.
Rumors were flying around Chicago that the Bears would look to part ways with Eberflus if the team lost to the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. The Bears, at 0-5, would have been able to fire Eberflus during the mini-bye.
One of the reasons some fans and pundits thought Eberflus might be secure, regardless of the outcome, was that the slippery foundation general manager Ryan Poles and Eberflus have built in their staffing would leave the team inept of a reasonable interim head coach.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how important you view the 2024 NFL Draft and offseason head coaching carousel versus a meaningless win against the Commanders in a hopeless season, the Bears played their second-best game under Eberflus in a 40-20 upseting win.
But the Bears went back to their losing ways in Week 6. The team is 1-5 and likely to be without Justin Fields for some time. The Bears could look at firing Eberflus before or at the bye. And they have a perfect candidate.
The Chicago Bears hire Phil Snow
Eberflus said last week the Bears were looking to hire a defensive analyst. According to Courtney Cronin with ESPN, the Bears hired Phil Snow to have that role with no teeth. He’ll be more of a scout, I guess, without being a coach on game days.
Snow has a few decades of experience as a defensive coordinator. He was most recently with the Carolina Panthers as their defensive coordinator from 2020-22. Should the Bears go ahead and fire Eberflus before the end of the season, Snow is the perfect type of coach to make the interim guy for the rest of the season.
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