NFL Rumors: ‘Irate’ Bears Players Call Out Matt Eberflus for Mistakes vs. Lions | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

The lack of time at the end of Thursday’s 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions was the last straw for Matt Eberflus, but the Chicago Bears players had already shut down their now former head coach before that point.

According to Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini of The Athletic, a Bears employee said the players were “furious” about the end of the Lions game because it was “a build-up to this season.”

Another employee described the scene in the locker room as “ugly” with “a lot of yelling.”

Although the Bears fired Eberflus on Friday, there was some confusion over the timing of their announcement.

Eberflus held his usual day-after press conference with the media on Friday after a customary debriefing session with Bears general manager Ryan Poles and CEO Kevin Warren earlier in the day. He said during the press conference that he was “getting ready” to start preparations for the Week 14 game against the San Francisco 49ers.

ESPN’s Courtney Cronin noted that it was about two hours after the press conference that the Bears made the move to fire Eberflus.

There were certainly indications after the Lions game that players were very unhappy with the way Eberflus handled the end-of-game situation. Wide receiver Keenan Allen told reporters he felt that “as players we did enough to win the game.”

Caleb Williams said his approach at this point was to “let coaches make that decision” on whether to call or attempt a play their last timeout.

The Bears were within field goal range when they reached the Lions’ 25-yard line with 45 seconds left. A penalty pushed them back 10 yards and a sack on second down got them back to the 41-yard line with 33 seconds left.

Instead of calling a timeout to set up a play that could at least get them closer and set up an easier field goal attempt for Cairo Santos, the offense tried to reset as the clock continued to run and they ball only broke when there were six seconds left to play.

Williams certainly made a mistake for taking his time to get the ball, but the whole situation was caused by Eberflus’ decision to take his last time out.

This was the latest in a series of late-game mistakes for the Bears, which reflects poorly on the head coach. They have lost six straight games since a 4-2 start, with four of the losses coming in the final game.

Those losses include the Washington Commanders completing a Hail Mary; the Green Bay Packers block a field goal attempt as time expires; and a game-winning field goal in overtime by the Minnesota Vikings after the Bears scored 10 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation to tie the score.

Thursday’s loss proved too big for Eberflus to overcome. He finished his tenure in Chicago with a 14-32 record in three seasons.