Matt Eberflus made many mistakes as the Bears’ head coach, but there’s one that he’s disputing.
“In the development of the quarterback position, and really all positions at my time with the Bears, we always had daily, coached film sessions,” Eberflus said on “The Doomsday Podcast” to host Ed Werder. “That was all through the entire year. So, that’s what I observed and that’s where it was.”
This comes after it was reported that Chicago’s then-rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams would watch game and practice film with no guidance from his coaching staff.
“No one tells me what to watch,” Williams told his dad, Carl, according to ESPN. “I just turn it on.”
Williams, and especially his father, reportedly wanted no part in heading to the Bears in the 2024 draft because of their infamous history with quarterbacks — rarely ever building any promising franchise cornerstone at the position.
“I don’t want my son playing for the Bears,” Carl told several agents in 2024, as reported by ESPN from Seth Wickersham’s upcoming book “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback.”
“Do I want to go there? I don’t think I can do it with [former Bears offensive coordinator Shane] Waldron,” Wickersham quoted Caleb Williams saying in the book.
Well, the Williamses were onto something as Eberflus and Waldron were fired midseason
A disconnect was clearly present with the quarterback and his coaches, as seen on the field and with Eberflus’ most recent comment addressing the film-watching criticisms.
Williams struggled with the coaching carousel and the revolving-door-esque linemen in front of him in his rookie season, as he was sacked a league-high 68 times.
But with a revamped offensive line and former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson taking over as head coach, the exciting flashes seen by Williams at times last season could very well become a more regular occurrence this year.
As for Eberflus, he’s heading into his first season as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator as he hopes to revitalize his coaching career — without any reports surrounding his coaching practices or any responsibilities to develop a franchise quarterback.