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It doesn't take an expert to psychoanalyze what has plagued the Chicago Bears over the last six games. All you really need is to have spent a good chunk of your life having closely followed professional sports, and you can start to get the sense of when a team has completely lost belief in their head coach. As I mentioned earlier this week, I hesitate to say that the Bears quit on Matt Eberflus, but after countless examples of coaching malpractice, it's fair to say that players in Chicago were ready for a change.
In reality, the guys in the Bears locker have likely been ready for a change much longer than this last month and a half. And because it took so long for Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears organization to do something they'd never done before — fire a head coach in the middle of the season — it put interim head coach Thomas Brown in a position where part of the job description was to heal the locker room. And fortunately, Brown was apparently up for the task.
“Before we talked about Xs and Os, before we talked about our game plan for San Fran, I talked about making sure our house is right,” Brown said, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “The initial goal is to unify this football team. Everybody’s on the same accord, moving in the same direction, speaking the same language and attacking with effort. No more divisions.”
If the Bears are divided, it hasn't necessarily come to light yet. Yes, there was visible dissatisfaction with Eberflus and the coaching staff, with players on both sides of the ball openly questioning the coaching on numerous occasions right up until Flus was fired. But not since the earliest portions of the season have we heard any talk about dissension or division among players on the offense and the defense. Maybe finding a common ‘enemy' in their head coach helped smooth things over.
Chicago Bears still have hope for future beyond 2024
As things stand right now, the Bears are one of the laughing stocks of the NFL, and if it weren't for former NFC North rival turned conspiracy theory weirdo Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets, or the perennially polarizing Dallas Cowboys, there may not be a more disappointing team this season than Chicago.
But Thomas Brown has his team focused on blocking out the outside noise and focusing on what they can control.
“As far as the outside noise, we ignore it. It doesn’t matter, whether it’s positive or its negative. What matters is our daily approach, us working together and executing when it’s time to go execute,” Brown said.
It's possible that despite a daunting schedule the rest of the way, the Bears could continue to play competitive football over the next month and go into the 2025 season with some semblance of momentum. If they did, they'd also be entering with a roster is talented enough that if it weren't for those multiple instances of coaching malpractice, they may be fighting for a Playoff spot right now.
