The Bears kicked off their offseason controversially, retaining head coach Matt Eberflus after the team fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
In his second season, Eberflus failed to impress. For a litany of reasons, several pundits and outsiders called for Eberflus' firing. And because the coaching free agent market is as robust as it has been in recent years (Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel, etc.) Bears fans believe they should've dared to dream bigger.
That wasn't the case. But, according to one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time --- Tom Brady ---, the Bears' idea to retain Eberflus may not be the worst call.
"I think the important thing about hiring and firing and all this is continuity is the key to the NFL," Brady said about coaching on the GOFORIT YouTube channel. "Whether it's the NFL or NBA, the more you have continuity, the more you can build on things over the course of years. If you look at football, it's hard to cover the situations that come up every week. In a game, start of game, end quarters, how you should use timeouts, end of halftime, critical third down situations, critical red area plays, situational football. All of these things need to be built up.
"It's like trying to learn a language. You're gonna learn English for one year. How will you be in your second year? Better. How will you be in your third year? Way better. In your fourth year? Better. What if every year you had to switch a language? You go English for one year. Okay, now we're gonna start back at French. Okay, now we're gonna go to Chinese. Okay, now we're gonna go to German. Okay, now we're gonna go to Spanish. It's really hard to build up any of that consistency and continuity."
Don't get it twisted, the Bears didn't retain Eberflus for no reason. He helped them drastically improve their defense in the back half of the season. He was a big part of the Bears' surge to end the season, winning their final five home games and five of their last eight games.
Chicago Bears
But, unfortunately, Eberflus and his staff failed in several areas. Alongside Getsy, Williams and Walker, the Bears fired five other coaches, including quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, running backs coach Omar Young, wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert and assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts.
Then there's the Chase Claypool situation. The Bears were unable to extract the fading talent out of the young wide receiver, forcing Ryan Poles' hand to trade him to the Miami Dolphins for less than they traded for him. Poles shoulders some of the blame, but the coaches were unable to help him, too.
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And, of course, the lack of development from quarterback Justin Fields. For another season, he failed to assure the Bears that he is worthy of being their franchise signal caller. Again, Fields shoulders the blame for his own play, but coaching plays a factor.
These factors together motivated several pundits and outsiders to rationalize firing Eberflus. But, as Brady mentioned, continuity is a major factor in NFL coaching. Hitting the reset button on the head coach forces the organization to hit the reset button.
The Bears aren't ready to do that.
But, they will have a reset in the offense department. Whether or not the Bears retain Fields or draft a new quarterback, that person will have to learn a new offense. Shane Waldron, the team's new offensive coordinator, is bringing his own system and his own playbook.
While the Bears lost some continuity on the offensive side of the ball, they created some by retaining Eberflus. Whether or not that's the right choice for the organization remains to be seen, but there's reasoning behind it.
