Former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus issued a statement Saturday after his historic firing, which came on the heels of a gut-wrenching 23-20 loss on Thanksgiving Day to the NFC-best Detroit Lions.
According NFL on CBS lead insider Jonathan Jones, Eberflus issued the following statement:
“I would like to thank the McCaskey family and Ryan Poles for the opportunity to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the players for all of their effort, dedication and resilience. In every situation – practice, games and especially in the face of adversity, you stayed together and gave great effort for your team and each other.
What I am most proud of was the way you carried yourself both on and off the field and represented the Bears organization with class in the community.
To the fans, thank you for your support and passion. I will always have a deep appreciation for the Bears organization and the city of Chicago.”
The news came just after Eberflus spoke to media reporters for a press conference Friday morning, where he said he was “confident” he would be with the team for their upcoming game in San Francisco.
Eberflus’ tenure came to an end after another devastating loss on Thursday against the Detroit Lions, the team’s sixth in a row after starting the season with a 4-2 record.
This loss came as the Bears floundered on the field in the closing seconds, with Eberflus not calling a timeout and the team only executing one play in the final 36 seconds of action to squander a chance to score a dramatic comeback win over the top team in the NFC.
Eberflus’ record in one-score games dropped to 5-19 during his tenure in Chicago, with his mark the worst in NFL history among coaches with at least 20 one-score games in their careers.
Overall, Eberflus finished his Bears tenure with a record of 14-32, good for the third-worst winning percentage in Bears history behind Abe Gibron and John Fox.
Now, the Bears will look to show progress in a number of areas over the season’s final five weeks, which will resume with a trip to the Bay Area to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 8.
