Chicago Bears fire OC Luke Getsy and retain coach Matt Eberflus
Chicago In what will be a crucial offseason, the Chicago Bears have made the first two decisions: they have fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and brought back coach Matt Eberflus for the 2024 campaign.
Sources tell ESPN that the Bears elected to keep Eberflus after intensive conversations Monday and Tuesday.
Getsy and four other offensive assistants, including wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert, running backs coach Omar Young, assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts, and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, were fired, the Bears announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Three days have passed since Eberflus and Getsy’s second season with the Bears came to an end. The Bears finished with a 7-10 record, but they showed potential in the last six games as they won four of them.
After serving as an NFL defensive assistant coach for the past 13 years, including a four-year stint as the Colts’ defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021, Eberflus is 10-24 in his two seasons with Chicago.
This season, Chicago’s offence made progress, but ultimately, it was insufficient to allow Chicago to go with Getsy.
This offseason, the Bears must make a crucial choice about their quarterback: should they select a rookie with the first overall pick or continue with Justin Fields, who will begin his fourth season?
Discussions regarding the offensive identity the Bears want to have in 2024 start in Halas Hall at the same time as plans for the quarterback position.
Throughout the 2023 season, players’ dissatisfaction with the offence was evident on multiple occasions. It started in Week 3, when Fields blamed his “robotic” play on “coaching”. Wide receiver DJ Moore added that Chicago lost because there weren’t enough reliable, high-scoring plays.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Chicago’s offence scored 17.4 points per game (20.4), their highest total since finishing 11th in 2018. The Bears had the second-best running offence in the NFL (141.1 YPG), but their passing offence dropped from 32nd to 27th place (182.1 yards per game).
The Bears’ season came to an end with a 17-9 loss in Green Bay, their second straight game without a touchdown since Week 12. In its last three road games, the offence managed only one touchdown in total, and in ten games, it was limited to 20 points or fewer.
The offence scored 37 touchdowns in 17 games, good for a tie for 20th place in the NFL, and ranked 19th in yards per attempt (6.7), 19th in success rate (41.6%), and 21st in EPA/play (-0.052).
