Head Coach Matt Eberflus

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Steady and smart, coach Matt Eberflus proves to be sensible choice for Bears
...

The Bears are 3-6, but a record along those lines was expected with a stripped-down roster in the initial phase of a rebuild. Just like quarterback Justin Fields, it’s possible to evaluate Eberflus within the context of adverse conditions. He can show progress even as losses accumulate.

Surprisingly, the biggest indicator of Eberflus eventually succeeding is the way he has handled Fields and the offense. His entire career before had been exclusively on defense — a significant concern when the Bears hired him. But his choice of Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator has proved prudent, and his oversight of Getsy reworking the offense after a dreadful first four games is evidence he knows how to run a team.

The shift that Eberflus and Getsy made during the Bears’ extended break between Weeks 6 and 7 was incredibly promising. It’s not just that their changes have worked — it’s that they made changes at all.

Stubbornness is no virtue, as Eberflus’ predecessor, Matt Nagy, learned the hard way in four seasons. As the Bears’ offense cratered en route to a 29th-place finish in 2020, Nagy was pressed on whether he needed to consider significant changes to his scheme.

“The big thing is just . . . not changing a whole lot,” he answered.

He added: “That’s a sign of weakness when you just come in and start changing everything, especially when you’ve seen something that’s worked before. It’s not broken.”

On the eve of last season, Nagy was still unbending in his belief that his offense was finally about to click. The Bears finished 27th in scoring. Staying the course cost him his job and the Bears a season.

Nagy’s inflexibility was exposed repeatedly; Eberflus and Getsy have shown adaptability at every turn. Nagy couldn’t make halftime adjustments; Eberflus seems like a master of them. Nagy tried to jam Fields into an offense suited for Andy Dalton’s skills; Getsy has embraced Fields’ elite running ability and made it the centerpiece.
...

...there’s nothing wrong with making changes. It’s a sign of strength. This offense was plummeting, but now it’s skyrocketing. Fields is making a strong case to be the quarterback of the future. Reassessing and redirecting are not causes for embarrassment. Making the shift was impressive.

And it’s reassuring to the Bears that Eberflus was involved in that. If things keep going well, Getsy will emerge as a head-coaching candidate for other teams, and the fact Eberflus has his hand on the offense will enable him to identify a new coordinator when needed.

That’s starkly different from the Nagy era. Nagy wanted to micromanage the offense — retaking play-calling going into last season after giving it up in 2020 — while giving his defensive coordinator autonomy. When Vic Fangio left in 2019 to coach the Broncos, Nagy effectively made Chuck Pagano, and subsequently Sean Desai, head coach of the defense. In that sense, Nagy was still just an offensive coordinator, but with a bigger paycheck.

His deep engrossment in the offense also limited his ability to see the big picture on game day. He mismanaged the setup for what would have been a game-winning field goal in 2019. His timeouts often were confounding. Game management was always an issue with Nagy. Eberflus hasn’t been perfect in that department, but there hasn’t been anything outright laughable. Even when his decisions are debatable, his logic is coherent.
...

There are no magic tricks with Eberflus, and no wild, lofty declarations he can’t possibly fulfill. He has simply been steady and smart, and if that’s how he continues to coach this team, the Bears picked the right guy.

Full article: https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2022 ... n-williams

[HisRoyalSweetness]

I wasn't sure of the best place to post this, but ultimately you have to give the credit to the new head coach especially given these marked improvements have occurred after the roster has been gutted and the team is in full rebuild mode.

Good News Dept.: The Bears are in the top 10 in the NFL (with big jumps from 2021) in some key categories that most bad Bears teams usually are near the bottom in: rushing (from 14th to first, 197.9 yards), rushing yards per attempt (21st to first, 5.4 yards), third-down conversions (32nd to sixth, 45.6%), takeaways (26th to eighth, 15), turnover differential (29th to eighth, plus-1) and red-zone touchdown percentage (30th to ninth, 60%). Even in scoring average, the Bears have improved from 27th last season to 17th (21.9 points).

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/202 ... 2023-draft

Despite the 3-8 record, Eberflus is off to a good start.

[The Marshall Plan]

I wasn't sure of the best place to post this, but ultimately you have to give the credit to the new head coach especially given these marked improvements have occurred after the roster has been gutted and the team is in full rebuild mode.

Good News Dept.: The Bears are in the top 10 in the NFL (with big jumps from 2021) in some key categories that most bad Bears teams usually are near the bottom in: rushing (from 14th to first, 197.9 yards), rushing yards per attempt (21st to first, 5.4 yards), third-down conversions (32nd to sixth, 45.6%), takeaways (26th to eighth, 15), turnover differential (29th to eighth, plus-1) and red-zone touchdown percentage (30th to ninth, 60%). Even in scoring average, the Bears have improved from 27th last season to 17th (21.9 points).

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/202 ... 2023-draft

Despite the 3-8 record, Eberflus is off to a good start.

Where do you put the blame on the defense?

I'm starting to give a cockeyed look over at Flus and DC Williams. Yes I totally understand we have personnel issues, but it can't be 100% that.

[Grizzled]

I wasn't sure of the best place to post this, but ultimately you have to give the credit to the new head coach especially given these marked improvements have occurred after the roster has been gutted and the team is in full rebuild mode.



Despite the 3-8 record, Eberflus is off to a good start.

Where do you put the blame on the defense?

I'm starting to give a cockeyed look over at Flus and DC Williams. Yes I totally understand we have personnel issues, but it can't be 100% that.

Should Poles have been scouring the waiver wires, lists of unsigned Free Agents for bodies for the defensive line? It's obvious that the present crew isn't getting the pressure needed. There has to be guys out there.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

[The Marshall Plan]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

[malk]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

(In good faith, I'm conscious tone doesn't come across well in text!)

I do not understand this take, it's absolutely outlandish to me.

We're dead last in sacks, pressures and QB knockdowns (I should add we're 12th in hurries for full disclosure and the Falcons are worse in some areas in % terms). And it is pretty clear that this is primarily a talent issue.
We traded away our best pass rusher and best defensive player mid season and have had a fair few injuries here and there.
We're regularly starting rookies (including one undrafted) in Brisker, Gordon and Sanborn and overall it's a brand new scheme with a bunch of players who haven't played with each other before in any scheme.

Despite this we're merely bad rather than being awful. That's huge to me and I just don't see how it can be anything but scheme. We haven't had a single elite player on the defence all year. Not Quinn or Smith when they were here, Johnson is a bit worse than he has been. EJax has given up more big plays than he's made (I will die on that hill!).

Then add in some of the spots Fields has put us in with late interceptions (blasphemy I know!) and we're a few rubs of the green from being a middle of the road defence. Genuinely, 5 fewer touchdowns and were 16th in points allowed. Oh, and we're middle of the road, 22nd overall, in turnovers so it isn't as if we're having some weird outlier year in that dimension which is papering over the cracks.

And we have the 2nd fewest penalties conceded on defence which counts for something as well.

Give this man a bit of talent and I'm incredibly excited to see what his defence can do.

[VA_Mountain_Bear]

I don't think I can judge coach Eberflus till the mid-end of next year for the following. He has an odd position for a coach in that his team is stripped down and needing a massive influx of talent. He has to coach the locker room to build a wining culture long term, while needing the tank season to get the picks to make that long term rebuild. He cannot openly admit that to the players or the media. I've been puzzled at first by the rotation of players at some positions, but in context of evaluating thoroughly your talent before a big FA and draft. Those are reasons for me to be patient and see what next year will bring.

[dplank]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

(In good faith, I'm conscious tone doesn't come across well in text!)

I do not understand this take, it's absolutely outlandish to me.

We're dead last in sacks, pressures and QB knockdowns (I should add we're 12th in hurries for full disclosure and the Falcons are worse in some areas in % terms). And it is pretty clear that this is primarily a talent issue.
We traded away our best pass rusher and best defensive player mid season and have had a fair few injuries here and there.
We're regularly starting rookies (including one undrafted) in Brisker, Gordon and Sanborn and overall it's a brand new scheme with a bunch of players who haven't played with each other before in any scheme.

Despite this we're merely bad rather than being awful. That's huge to me and I just don't see how it can be anything but scheme. We haven't had a single elite player on the defence all year. Not Quinn or Smith when they were here, Johnson is a bit worse than he has been. EJax has given up more big plays than he's made (I will die on that hill!).

Then add in some of the spots Fields has put us in with late interceptions (blasphemy I know!) and we're a few rubs of the green from being a middle of the road defence. Genuinely, 5 fewer touchdowns and were 16th in points allowed. Oh, and we're middle of the road, 22nd overall, in turnovers so it isn't as if we're having some weird outlier year in that dimension which is papering over the cracks.

And we have the 2nd fewest penalties conceded on defence which counts for something as well.

Give this man a bit of talent and I'm incredibly excited to see what his defence can do.

All fair takes honestly. But I'll give TMP a little backup here...

Neither side of the ball has good talent at all, but I would argue that Getsy has done a lot more with the talent he has available than Flus has. He has schemed around talent deficiencies beautifully IMO, and has truly made chicken salad out of chicken shit. I get that he has Fields as his trump card - BUT - Fields wasn't a trump card at all as recently as Week 5 this season, so he gets credit for helping create that trump card.

I have come off my major concern on this, as our record will likely preclude any poaching of Getsy to a HC job this offseason. BUT - gun to my head and forced to decide to keep one or the other, I'd keep Getsy over Flus. Getsy can hire a DC easier than Flus can hire an OC IMO, and he's shown me more this year than Flus has.

[wab]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

(In good faith, I'm conscious tone doesn't come across well in text!)

I do not understand this take, it's absolutely outlandish to me.

We're dead last in sacks, pressures and QB knockdowns (I should add we're 12th in hurries for full disclosure and the Falcons are worse in some areas in % terms). And it is pretty clear that this is primarily a talent issue.
We traded away our best pass rusher and best defensive player mid season and have had a fair few injuries here and there.
We're regularly starting rookies (including one undrafted) in Brisker, Gordon and Sanborn and overall it's a brand new scheme with a bunch of players who haven't played with each other before in any scheme.

Despite this we're merely bad rather than being awful. That's huge to me and I just don't see how it can be anything but scheme. We haven't had a single elite player on the defence all year. Not Quinn or Smith when they were here, Johnson is a bit worse than he has been. EJax has given up more big plays than he's made (I will die on that hill!).

Then add in some of the spots Fields has put us in with late interceptions (blasphemy I know!) and we're a few rubs of the green from being a middle of the road defence. Genuinely, 5 fewer touchdowns and were 16th in points allowed. Oh, and we're middle of the road, 22nd overall, in turnovers so it isn't as if we're having some weird outlier year in that dimension which is papering over the cracks.

And we have the 2nd fewest penalties conceded on defence which counts for something as well.

Give this man a bit of talent and I'm incredibly excited to see what his defence can do.

Totally agree

[The Marshall Plan]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

(In good faith, I'm conscious tone doesn't come across well in text!)

I do not understand this take, it's absolutely outlandish to me.

We're dead last in sacks, pressures and QB knockdowns (I should add we're 12th in hurries for full disclosure and the Falcons are worse in some areas in % terms). And it is pretty clear that this is primarily a talent issue.
We traded away our best pass rusher and best defensive player mid season and have had a fair few injuries here and there.
We're regularly starting rookies (including one undrafted) in Brisker, Gordon and Sanborn and overall it's a brand new scheme with a bunch of players who haven't played with each other before in any scheme.

Despite this we're merely bad rather than being awful. That's huge to me and I just don't see how it can be anything but scheme. We haven't had a single elite player on the defence all year. Not Quinn or Smith when they were here, Johnson is a bit worse than he has been. EJax has given up more big plays than he's made (I will die on that hill!).

Then add in some of the spots Fields has put us in with late interceptions (blasphemy I know!) and we're a few rubs of the green from being a middle of the road defence. Genuinely, 5 fewer touchdowns and were 16th in points allowed. Oh, and we're middle of the road, 22nd overall, in turnovers so it isn't as if we're having some weird outlier year in that dimension which is papering over the cracks.

And we have the 2nd fewest penalties conceded on defence which counts for something as well.

Give this man a bit of talent and I'm incredibly excited to see what his defence can do.

We’re 3-10 on our way to the #2 overall pick.

There are no sacred cows with the exception of our QB and the guy who got him to the next level. Getsy.

Flus’ whole deal was getting chicken salad out of chicken shit with limited talent at Indy.

Yet we’ve been giving up nearly 30 points a week every week since around Halloween.

So both Poles and Flus get a pass for that? A Get Out Of Jail free card?

Unless if we literally created the worst defense known to mankind, how does Flus get off scott free here?

Then, if we did create that worst personnel defense, who owns that? Who is held accountable?

Who is to blame for the Giants game where they did 10 rollouts and we bit on every single one? That’s bad coaching. We can’t scheme a pass rush? Dial up a blitz? Adapt from the Cover-2 if we can’t create a pass rush?

A coaches job is to adapt to the personnel you have. I’m not seeing it here.

How is it that we go a month or so with no sacks by the front four and the coach is totally blameless?

Or what have you been specifically impressed with by Flus? Specifics.

[RichH55]

I'm wondering how you get that take to mesh with your Sanborns/Roquon takes to be honest. Seems like just a lack of reasonableness.

[Moriarty]

A coaches job is to adapt to the personnel you have. I’m not seeing it here.

To be a little more precise, a coach's job is to scheme around what your personnel can do well and what they can't.

When the answer to what your personnel does well is "nothing", that's exactly how much you should expect your coach to come up with that makes that look good.

[wab]

Hard to get home with 4 when your defensive line doesn't collapse the pocket because they can't get any penetration.

Hard to scheme a pass rush when your defensive line doesn't collapse the pocket because they can't get any penetration, and your converted QB defensive end can't beat a block yet.

Hard to draw up an exotic blitz when your defensive line doesn't collapse the pocket because they can't get any penetration, your converted QB defensive end can't beat a block yet, and your UDFA corners are prone to coverage mistakes.

[artbest01]

IMO, there isn't a DC in the game - past or present - that would be able to do much with the Bears' defense. They have, arguably, the least talented front 7 the league has seen in decades. Eberflus never had this kind of talent deficit in Indy.

[wab]

in 2018 Eberflus had:

DE: Jabaal Sheard/ Margus Hunt/Al-Quadin Muhammad
DT: Al Woods/Denico Autry/Tyquan Lewis/Grover Stewart
LB: Shaq Leonard/Anthony Walker/Matthew Adams
DB: Kenny Moore/Pierre Desir/Clayton Geathers/Malik Hooker

In 2019 he had

DE: Jabaal Sheard/Justin Houston/Al-Quadin Muhammad/Kemoko Turay
DT: Grover Stewart/Denico Autry/Trevon Coley/Margus Hunt
LB: Shaq Leonard/Anthony Walker/Bobby Okereke
DB: Kenny Moore/Pierre Desir/Clayton Geathers/Malik Hooker

In 2020 he had

DE: Justin Houston/Denico Autry/Al-Quadin Muhammad/Kemoko Turay
DT: Grover Stewart/DeForest Buckner/Tyquan Lewis/Taylor Stallworth
LB: Shaq Leonard/Anthony Walker/Bobby Okereke
DB: Kenny Moore/Xavier Rhodes/Julian Blackmon/Khari Willis

in 2021 he had
DE: Al-Quadin Muhammad/Kwity Paye/Tyquan Lewis/Dayo Odeyingbo
DT: Grover Stewart/DeForest Buckner/Taylor Stallworth/Kameron Cline
LB: Shaq Leonard/Anthony Walker/Zaire Franklin
DB: Kenny Moore/Xavier Rhodes/Khari Willis/Andrew Sendejo

While the level of talent under his watch in Indy wasn't collectively great, he had the LB, DE, and 3T needed to make it go and was able to surround those positions with role players.

He has none of that with the Bears. If you squint real hard...maybe the LB.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

So just to clarify, it appears your assessment is as follows: Any offensive success is all down to the offensive co-ordinator and nothing to do with the head coach but any defensive failure is all down to the head coach and nothing to do with the defensive co-ordinator.

You seem to be stuck in the mindset that because Eberflus was a defensive co-ordinator previously he is solely responsible for that side of the ball. He's not; he's the Head Coach. He made it clear when he took the job that, unlike his predecessor, he was delegating to his co-ordinators, including the play calling, and as the Head Coach he would be actively involved in overseeing all aspects of the team.

Any conclusion that the success Getsy has had is exclusively down to him is not one that can reasonably be reached. We do not know what input Eberflus has had. We do know that Eberflus led a serious re-evaluation of the team during the 'mini-bye' with all his coaches and that the offense improved significantly following that.

I have to say TMP the idea of firing Eberflus after one season when the Bears are in full rebuild mode has to be the most incredible suggestion I've seen in the decade I've been part of this forum.

[dplank]

Can anyone argue that Getsy has good talent to work with? For most of the year it was a very inexperienced QB, a horrible OL, and a bottom 5 set of pass catchers. None of that changed except Claypool coming in late in the season, and he's had no real impact. We played without Pringle and Patrick all season long also.

And yet, Getsy's unit has had more big plays and scored more points than any team I can remember.

It's fair to argue that Flus has had even worse talent than Getsy, but not by all that much to be honest. The talent is bad on both sides, one made it work and one didn't. The performance disparity is far greater than the talent disparity, so Getsy has outcoached Flus IMO.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Can anyone argue that Getsy has good talent to work with? For most of the year it was a very inexperienced QB, a horrible OL, and a bottom 5 set of pass catchers. None of that changed except Claypool coming in late in the season, and he's had no real impact. We played without Pringle and Patrick all season long also.

And yet, Getsy's unit has had more big plays and scored more points than any team I can remember.

It's fair to argue that Flus has had even worse talent than Getsy, but not by all that much to be honest. The talent is bad on both sides, one made it work and one didn't. The performance disparity is far greater than the talent disparity, so Getsy has outcoached Flus IMO.

Sorry, isn’t Alan Williams the defensive coordinator and Flus is head coach?

Flus is responsible for both sides of the ball.

[The Marshall Plan]

I’m good if they fire Eberflus and promote Getsy after the season.

Anything good with this team that has happened, namely JF1s development, has had nothing to do with him.

Then his alleged area of excellence, the defense, has been a total disgrace.

So just to clarify, it appears your assessment is as follows: Any offensive success is all down to the offensive co-ordinator and nothing to do with the head coach but any defensive failure is all down to the head coach and nothing to do with the defensive co-ordinator.

You seem to be stuck in the mindset that because Eberflus was a defensive co-ordinator previously he is solely responsible for that side of the ball. He's not; he's the Head Coach. He made it clear when he took the job that, unlike his predecessor, he was delegating to his co-ordinators, including the play calling, and as the Head Coach he would be actively involved in overseeing all aspects of the team.

Any conclusion that the success Getsy has had is exclusively down to him is not one that can reasonably be reached. We do not know what input Eberflus has had. We do know that Eberflus led a serious re-evaluation of the team during the 'mini-bye' with all his coaches and that the offense improved significantly following that.

I have to say TMP the idea of firing Eberflus after one season when the Bears are in full rebuild mode has to be the most incredible suggestion I've seen in the decade I've been part of this forum.

I think we all know why the offense has been successful and it has nothing to do with the grand scheming of Matt Eberflus.

The defense, his alleged specialty, however is a disgrace.

Again, I'm not pounding the table to fire the guy, I'm just saying I wouldn't be bothered by it.

[dplank]

Can anyone argue that Getsy has good talent to work with? For most of the year it was a very inexperienced QB, a horrible OL, and a bottom 5 set of pass catchers. None of that changed except Claypool coming in late in the season, and he's had no real impact. We played without Pringle and Patrick all season long also.

And yet, Getsy's unit has had more big plays and scored more points than any team I can remember.

It's fair to argue that Flus has had even worse talent than Getsy, but not by all that much to be honest. The talent is bad on both sides, one made it work and one didn't. The performance disparity is far greater than the talent disparity, so Getsy has outcoached Flus IMO.

Sorry, isn’t Alan Williams the defensive coordinator and Flus is head coach?

Flus is responsible for both sides of the ball.

If you want to go that route, then he doesn't get credit for anything but our record. That's not good either. But yea, I'm not thrilled with Williams at all.

Anyhow, reading this thread through, this point keeps getting ignored. Both coordinators had major talent issues to deal with, one of them (Getsy) rose above it and got his unit to perform well and one did not. That's how I see it, whether you want to put that on Williams for Flus is up to interpretation, but we all know Flus has his hands all over this defense and is very hands off on the offense. Until someone can address this point, I remain unswayed.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Sorry, isn’t Alan Williams the defensive coordinator and Flus is head coach?

Flus is responsible for both sides of the ball.

If you want to go that route, then he doesn't get credit for anything but our record. That's not good either. But yea, I'm not thrilled with Williams at all.

Anyhow, reading this thread through, this point keeps getting ignored. Both coordinators had major talent issues to deal with, one of them (Getsy) rose above it and got his unit to perform well and one did not. That's how I see it, whether you want to put that on Williams for Flus is up to interpretation, but we all know Flus has his hands all over this defense and is very hands off on the offense. Until someone can address this point, I remain unswayed.

Ok well I’m putting it on Alan Williams.

Also - one side of the ball has added talent (Leatherwood, Claypool) and one side has significantly depleted its talent (Quinn and Roquan), so that’s something to consider during the witch hunt.

[HurricaneBear]

The biggest reason the offense succeeds is Justin Fields not Luke Getsy. The defense has no comparable game changing talent like the offense does in Fields.

I think Getsy is a far better coordinator than Williams. But Justin Fields is a game changing talent and will drag this offense along with him as long as they let Justin be Justin. Who ever made the decision during the "mini bye" to change the offense is the second biggest reason for the offensive success. Was that Flus or Getsy or someone else? As far as I know no one in the locker room has gone on record to say who that was.

[thunderspirit]

I'm kind of with @HurricaneBear on this one: the defense doesn't have anyone approaching the dynamic talent that Justin Fields is, and as @Ditka’s dictaphone points out has in fact had some of its talent removed.

The change that happened after Week 6 that let JF1 shine was probably mostly Getsy but I have no idea if Flus was part of it or not, if he said "let's try some Baltimore things", or what. This team seems reasonably well coached and has made adjustments at halftime, so I lean toward a talent deficiency rather than a coaching deficiency. YMMV.

[Heinz D.]

I simply don't get all this noise and nonsense.

The entire coaching staff, thus far, has acquitted themselves VERY well.

Why anyone would claim otherwise is beyond me.

[o-pus #40 in B major]

I simply don't get all this noise and nonsense.

The entire coaching staff, thus far, has acquitted themselves VERY well.

Why anyone would claim otherwise is beyond me.

This is a clear and reasonable position which I agree with. Thanks.

[RichH55]

Can anyone argue that Getsy has good talent to work with? For most of the year it was a very inexperienced QB, a horrible OL, and a bottom 5 set of pass catchers. None of that changed except Claypool coming in late in the season, and he's had no real impact. We played without Pringle and Patrick all season long also.

And yet, Getsy's unit has had more big plays and scored more points than any team I can remember.

It's fair to argue that Flus has had even worse talent than Getsy, but not by all that much to be honest. The talent is bad on both sides, one made it work and one didn't. The performance disparity is far greater than the talent disparity, so Getsy has outcoached Flus IMO.

Horrible OL just incorrect.

This is not a great post overall.

[artbest01]

Imo, Getsy made one correction that has made all the difference - he turned fields the runner loose. While he’s not yet close to being a difference maker as a passer, he’s a lethal weapon when he uses his legs - a weapon that turns broken plays into 50+ yard td runs.

The defense does not have a player that approaches the difference making capability of Justin fields. There’s no one on that side of the ball - particularly along the front 7 - that opponents worry about or scheme for.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

The defense was great up until the mini break and the offense was gash. We had a reputation for 2nd half TD shut outs.
Quinn was traded and the defense became gash. We had one more game with Roquan after Quinn left.

The cause of the defense becoming gash is not losing Quinn, or Roquan, it’s not just down to the DC or even the HC. It’s multi-factorial.

Trying to use it as a reason to promote Getsy is strange in my opinion.

[dplank]

For clarity, I don't want to replace Flus. The "gun to my head" phrasing should have made that ultra clear, it was simply a wild hypothetical and I can see TMP's point (one I've made before myself) that Getsy has done a better job than Flus/Williams this season. He made the most of his talent IMO.

What I want is for our staff to remain intact for next season, and I hope we don't face this problem for a while. Which will give us time to see how Flus - and Getsy - perform with real NFL talent.

But somehow, someway - someone will read this very clear text and still ask why I want Flus fired, because message boards.