On Thursday afternoon, Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus spoke with the media. Aside from sporting a new, slimmer look and brilliant Chicago-esque facial hair, he explained who will be calling the Bears' defensive plays in 2024.
A long-running joke among Chicago sports fans is the correlation between facial hair and coaching success. Look no further than Mike Ditka, Phil Jackson, and Joel Quenneville.
Now that Eberflus is changing up his look after his second season in Chicago, we can evaluate his tenure with metrics that truly matter: beard or clean-shaven.
Under clean-shaven Eberflus, the Bears sport a 10-24 record. It's an abysmal mark that's downright depressing for fans of the Monsters of the Midway. But Eberflus must have been doing some homework early this offseason because he debuted a new look during Thursday's press conference.
As seen above, Coach Flus now has a brilliant beard! What does this mean? A perfect 17-0 season capped off with a championship of course! It also appears that Eberflus has been hitting the weights and eating his Wheaties. He looks slimmer and more vibrant, and he even has a slight deltoid pop out of his partial zip-up.
Good for you coach! Da more YOKED Da better!
Coach is taking winning in Chicago seriously, and now that he found the secret (not to be confused with Michael Jordan's 'Secret Stuff' that was only in Space Jam), the Bears will rise to greatness.
Joking aside, Eberflus provided one bit of news that will directly affect the team. He will be calling defensive plays from the sideline in 2024.
Amid the debacle that was the 2023 season, which was riddled with coordinator issues, Eberflus was forced into calling plays. As the season progressed, the defense became more sound in its approach. With the addition of Montez Sweat and players like Jaylon Johnson and T.J. Edwards elevating their game, the Bears' defense improved.
So will Eberflus calling plays be good for the Bears? We can't predict how the 2024 campaign will go, but the defense's upward trajectory in the latter half of last season offers some optimism. Additionally, consistency among play-callers should be beneficial for the players.
The offseason continues to roll on as the NFL Draft quickly approaches. The Bears are on the clock and so is Eberflus. If he can't get this squad to win in 2024, he may be on the hot seat come January 2025.
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