The numbers tell the story.

Matt Eberflus’ three seasons as head coach of the Bears, memorable for all the wrong reasons, ended Friday, a day after his latest late-game blunder made him a national punchline. And the numbers are not nice.

• 14-32: Overall record as Bears head coach

• 2-13: NFC North record

• 3-19: Road record

• 5-19: Record in single-score games

• 6: Current losing streak

• 1: Number of times a Bears head coach has been fired during the season

Any way you look at it, all the Bears did was lose in Eberflus’ three seasons as head coach.

It was designed that way at first, a tanking job that led to the Bears eventually drafting Caleb Williams at No. 1, a well-thought-out plan to make the Bears winners again.

And while Williams learned on the job, this season was meant to restore hope to Chicago. But those heightened expectations only set Eberflus up for a bigger fall.

The Bears made the wrong kind of history when they fired Eberflus — or “relieved of his duties” in press releases — on Black Friday, the post-Thanksgiving shopping holiday.

The NFL’s charter franchise had never fired a head coach as of last season. But Eberflus left them no choice but to take immediate action. Thomas Brown, who has been the offensive coordinator for the last three games since Eberflus fired Shane Waldron, is the new head coach

This was the right decision. It would have been cruel for the Bears to continue trotting Eberflus out to face the media, as they did Friday morning when he had to meet reporters on Zoom and express confidence that he would keep his job this season.

“I had several conversations with (Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren).”

Matt Eberflus when asked if he had conversations with Bears Brass about his work. pic.twitter.com/hJY62Aml2T

— Marquee Bears (@BearsMarquee) November 29, 2024

It would have been unfair to the players not to hold Eberflus accountable. They have been throwing shade at him for over a month now by publicly and loudly challenging his coaching decisions.

When the clock hit zero in Detroit, leaving the Bears down 23-20 and the entire football-watching country screaming at him for a timeout, it also marked the end of his time in Chicago.

GO DEEPER

Bears fire Eberflus after six straight losses, criticizing clock management

For the fourth time in a six-game losing streak, the Bears lost on the final play of the game, and this coaching error was so egregious that something abnormal had to be done.

With each loss, there seemed to be a new “insult statistic” that showed how unhappy the Bears were as a team under Eberflus, even as Williams showed real promise amid the normal growing pains of a rookie quarterback.

So it’s fitting that there was one last for the Eberflus era, in that he’s the first Bears coach to lose his job before the season ends.

But the Bears’ problems go far beyond Eberflus.

The appointment itself was disappointing and indicative of the self-imposed, small-scale identity of the charter franchise. Bears GM Ryan Poles should have fired Eberflus last offseason and made an effort to bring back Jim Harbaugh.

But no one with any sense of reality was surprised that that didn’t happen, because Harbaugh is too big of a personality for Halas Hall. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson would have made sense and he still makes sense for next season and beyond.

By delaying this firing, the Bears subjected Williams to their tradition of incompetence, meaning he will be his second head coach and likely third offensive coordinator in his second season in the NFL. This marks the third straight time a Bears starting quarterback has lost his head coach after his freshman season.

Who knows how long the Poles will last, but his next appointment should have the personality and coaching skills to lead this franchise from the hinterland into the spotlight. Well, to be fair, the Bears are at the center of the NFL conversation right now, but for all the wrong reasons.

Poles must be the man who makes bold decisions, because we know that leadership does not come from above.

Bears chairman George McCaskey is a better Little League umpire than he is an owner. Since taking over from McCaskey before the 2011 season, the Bears have been largely irrelevant, save for one really good season, one great trade and multiple seasons of being a punchline for the entire league.

Poland is his fourth general manager (including Jerry Angelo, whom he fired after one season), and the next coach will be the sixth of McCaskey’s incompetence reign.

It starts at the top.

Since George McCaskey became Bears chairman in 2011, the Bears have fired three GMs, five head coaches and three OCs. In 14 seasons they have 2 winning seasons, 2 playoff berths, zero playoff wins and a 93-130 (.417) record to show for it, so…

— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) November 29, 2024

As for new team president Kevin Warren, who will certainly have a big say in the next coach, he has botched his only job: getting the team a new stadium. They had a deal in place in Arlington Heights when he was hired, and Warren has done everything he can to slow that process while trying to keep the Bears in town. I’m not against that concept, but it doesn’t fit with the reality that the team already owns land to build a new stadium. You just can’t trust Warren to make a good decision.

So it’s up to Poland, who lives off his lopsided trade victory over the Carolina Panthers two years ago. He didn’t shine in his role when he chose Eberflus, so it remains to be seen whether he will make the right appointment this time. I’m not optimistic.

We don’t know yet what he is looking for in a new coach, because he did not address the media on Friday. In a classic case of Bears dysfunction, Eberflus was the only person to speak on behalf of the franchise on Friday, and that was two hours before he learned he had been fired. The poor man expressed confidence that he would be the Bears coach this week and emphasized that it was “business as usual” at Halas Hall.

Polen and Warren were quoted in a press release, but neither addressed the media or fans. I assume they’ll talk soon, but transparency is the least of their worries.

Firing Eberflus allows Poland and his front office to begin vetting candidates for what will likely be a crowded coaching market.

GO DEEPER

Who could be the Bears’ next head coach? Here are 15 potential candidates

Brown, the acting coach, is too green to qualify for anything more than a cursory interview. The aforementioned Johnson and his colleague, Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, should be at the top of the Poles’ list, along with other popular coordinators like Liam Coen (Tampa Bay) and Bobby Slowik (Houston). Former head coaches like Mike Vrabel, an assistant at Cleveland this season, and Brian Flores, the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, should be given serious consideration. Bill Belichick, sure, but let’s be real. I don’t think this franchise can handle Vrabel, let alone his old coach.

Focusing solely on the best offensive coordinators because of Williams would be a mistake. Poland needs to find a real leader who can do a holistic job and run the entire franchise. Plenty of defensive coordinators have gone on to lead teams with successful offenses. Like that Belichick guy, for example.

But because they know how the Bears operate, they’ll hire the offensive coordinator who does the worst coaching job in the wild card games, and in a few years we’ll be back here poring over the damned numbers and wondering how the next man can do that. solve the endemic problems plaguing this haunted franchise.

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(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)