Matt Eberflus Slammed in NFLPA Survey, Bears Players Say He Mismanaged Schedule

Former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus was the "most frequent complaint" named by Bears players surveyed by the NFLPA this year, according to the players' union.

Eberflus, who was fired after the Bears' 4-8 start to the 2024 season, was ranked 32nd out of 32 NFL head coaches on the team report cards released Wednesday by the NFLPA.

According to the NFLPA, players responding to the survey before Eberflus was fired "felt like he lacked a willingness to listen to the players and the players’ leadership council, and he mismanaged the weekly team schedule."

The NFLPA added: "It will be interesting for the players to see if some of these areas change next year."

Players ranked Eberflus 30th in the NFL in time management, with only 59 percent telling the NFLPA they felt the former coach was "efficient with their time."

Eberflus also received a poor rating for responsiveness to feedback, ranking 31st in the NFL as only "moderately receptive to locker room feedback on the team's needs."

Eberflus was fired on Nov. 29, the day after clock mismanagement ended the Bears' attempt to come back from a late Thanksgiving Day deficit to the Detroit Lions.

The tension between Eberflus and his players was described in a Nov. 30 report by Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini of The Athletic, who reported that "emotions were high" in the postgame locker room as players and staff members questioned Eberflus' decision not to call a timeout in the final moments of the Thanksgiving loss.

That dissatisfaction may have been partially what motivated the Bears to part ways with a coach in the middle of an NFL season for the first time in franchise history.

After parting ways with Eberflus shortly after that loss and finishing out the campaign under interim head coach Thomas Brown, the Bears hired former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as head coach ahead of the 2025 season.

The Bears overall ranked 14th out of the 32 teams surveyed by the NFLPA this year, a drop for a franchise that received the No. 10 spot in 2024. Chicago will now see if Johnson can help the team earn a top-10 player valuation next spring following his first season as an NFL head coach.