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    • Matt Eberflus takes full responsibility for Bears’ offensive failures
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    Matt Eberflus takes full responsibility for Bears’ offensive failures

    Umito Posted on

    Bears coach Matt Eberflus let the buck stop in the only place he could after his decision to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron before naming Thomas Brown as the new signal caller.

    This is the boss who hired Waldron, also hired Luke Getsy and now has Brown calling the plays starting Sunday at Soldier Field against Green Bay. And all this in less than three years.

    “It’s just where it is, isn’t it?” Eberflus spoke about taking responsibility for the Bears’ failed play calls. “Third player and I take full responsibility for it. I take full responsibility for it, and it has to improve. It has to improve.

    “The details of creativity need to improve and it needs to improve this week.”

    Over the past three weeks, the Bears rank last in yards per play (3.7), third-down conversions (15%), completion percentage (50.5%), scoring average (9.0 points ) and first in authorized bags (18).

    The Bears thought they were onto this stuff when they hired Waldron and fired him nine games into the season.

    “You know, for me it’s about what’s happening right now,” Eberflus said. “And again, obviously when you’re out there you say you’re making a great decision (to hire Waldron) and that’s what’s happening right now.

    “We’ve really struggled the last three weeks and I thought the best thing right now for the Bears, OK, for our football team, where we are in the season, was to make this adjustment.”

    Eberflus attempted to shoot down a report that he was going to report to Waldron as recently as Monday. He said he was still considering a decision until Tuesday morning, then fired the former Seattle coordinator.

    “So like I said, I stayed here Monday and talked about it, went through the whole process on Monday and made the decision Tuesday morning,” Eberflus said. “I informed Shane at that point, and then I had Thomas come in and I informed him. And then we would go from there.”

    What the Bears hope to see from Brown’s call-up are more scoring opportunities. The team reached the end zone with regularity when they were able to reach the red zone, ranking eighth in TD percentage despite Doug Kramer’s goal line debacle and the outside throw option that reported minus-12 yards on fourth-and-1 against the Colts.

    “What I look for on offense is creativity,” Eberflus said. “Getting guys to work in open positions on the field. And that takes creativity. But it takes everyone. Working with everyone to make it happen – if it’s (line coach) Chris (Morgan ), the running backs coach, whoever it is, using everyone to really do a good job of creating that opening in space to get our athletes into that zone. For me, that’s. always that.

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    Eberflus denied reports that players asked him to replace Bagent or replace quarterback Caleb Williams, although he spoke to them. The decision was entirely his.

    “They (the players) just want to do more,” Eberflus said. “They just want to do more. They want to be more productive. More efficient. Score points for our football team. Just do more as a group and then more individually to help the group.

    “(The players’ contribution) was always winning. In a respectful way. It was always with that in mind. And for me, it was really, really good to see that they really wanted to improve.”

    Eberflus’ decision regarding Brown seemed natural and was expected when it became clear that Waldron would no longer call plays. Brown was passing game coordinator and offensive coordinator last year for most of Carolina’s games.
    “(He) brings passion and energy and tenacity and tenacity and collaboration,” Eberflus said. “You could definitely see that yesterday in the game planning phase, using all the minds and everyone (on the staff) there.
    “I thought it was great to see these guys work together to find the best answers for our game planning on first and second down and for our third down to date.”
    The Bears squandered a chance to be better than 4-5 against the softer themes of their schedule and Brown is starting to call plays against the Packers, who have won 10 straight against Chicago. It is unlikely that the blame will fall on anyone other than Eberflus if the losses continue.

    Twitter: BearsOnSI

    Umito
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