Alan Williams‘ sudden resignation as Bears defensive coordinator left a major hole on Chicago’s coaching staff. However, the organization isn’t anticipating any major hirings following the subtraction. Matt Eberflus told reporters that the defensive coaching staff will remain intact, and the head coach will be taking over defensive play-calling duties.
[RELATED: Bears DC Alan Williams Resigns]
“This is the best thing for right now,” Eberflus said of the play-calling decision (via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin). “I think that’s where it is. It’s the best thing for our football team and for our organization. That’s where we see it, and that’s where it is.”
Eberflus emerged as a worthy head coach candidate thanks to his defensive acumen, with the Colts ranking as a top-10 scoring defense during three of his four years as Indy’s defensive coordinator. Eberflus is the most logical contingency plan for the Bears, although the team does have 35 years of combined coaching experience in cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke and safeties coach Andre Curtis.
Despite the unexpected end to Williams’ stint as defensive coordinator, Eberflus made it clear that he still supports his now-former coach. The two coached alongside each other with the Colts, where Williams served as safeties coach.
“Obviously, I was with him four years, five years,” Eberflus said. “I have a lot of friendship. I have feelings for him. And again, he’s resigned and it’s for health and family, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
While the head coach publicly supported Williams, some reporters observed that the players have been relatively quiet on the matter. This inspired someone to ask Eberflus about the lack of public support from the players, but the head coach downplayed the matter and cited Williams’ privacy.
“I wouldn’t read into that,” Eberflus said. “It’s personal. So people are respecting that and respecting space, I believe. That’s what I believe it is. It’s no disrespect to the question, it’s none of that. That’s where it is.”
Or as soon as one of the players spoke up ( Fields), The gag order went out and suddenly everybody took back their comments. Huh, Imagine that.
Guess we will have to wait for a few more losses to lift the gag order
Wash, rinse, repeat with this franchise. Nobody is ever on the same page. Complete top to bottom organizational incompetence.
Can’t fire the owners.
Quite frankly, I didn’t see any difference whatsoever between Williams failed defensive scheme and Eberflus flawed Defensive scheme last week. Sit back and let the other team run all over you isn’t really a defensive philosophy anyway.
Well, it seems that Chicago is still taking their time in gathering pieces and not committing to competing in the immediate. They’ve traded, turned loose, or lost production from a lot of players in the last couple of years leading into the regime change. You have to wonder, though, when the Bears will commit to competing. They still need a lot of talent, to be sure, but it’s got to frustrating for the players as well as the fans. I’m sure that you, as a venerable member of the latter group, know more about any of this than we do (and my sympathies for that).
It won’t make a difference. They’re soon to be 0-3
That just might be the most unnecessary statement I’ve ever seen on this site. And that’s saying a lot. LMAO
Huh? You must be new here. Giving opinions is part of the comment section
If you want to see how good the Bears defense could have been just watch how the Dolphins improve with Vic Fangio.