NFL exec reveals how Matt Eberflus lost the locker room

The Chicago Bears have taken a nosedive in a season before. However, the last time feels different because it happened so quickly. Things were going great on October 13th. The Bears had just defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in London and entered the bye week at 4-2. A month later, they were beaten at home by the lowly New England Patriots 19-3 and were 4-5. Shane Waldron was fired as offensive coordinator. Caleb Williams looks broken at the quarterback. The players are openly opposed to the team's entire operation. All of this lies at the feet of head coach Matt Eberflus.

So what the hell happened? How could things go so wrong so quickly for this team? The Athletic's Mike Sando reached out to senior league executives to get their thoughts. One of them had a direct answer to the Eberflus situation. He believes the head coach lost the locker room because of his handling of the Hail Mary in Washington.

“Their offense is so bad,” said a manager from another team. “Eberflus is already on the sidelines because of his response to the Ave Maria (Touchdown allowed against Washington). He needs to act on Waldron to take some of the heat off, otherwise they could all be wiped out.”

Everyone has memories burned into their brains.

The Bears had a 15-13 lead with 25 seconds left. A stoppage would give them a thrilling comeback victory. Then Eberflus made two crucial mistakes. He called for soft coverage on the second-to-last play, leaving the Commanders a free 13 yards to give Jayden Daniels a chance at the end. Then he refused to call a timeout when it was clear that cornerback Tyrique Stevenson wasn't paying attention to the Hail Mary play. However, that wasn't what turned the boys against him. Eberflus managed to avoid acknowledging the play by making a mistake before the final pass.

“That’s where you defend the touchdown. And they throw the ball 13 yards or 10 yards, whatever that is, doesn't actually matter. It will always come down to the last move.”

Matt Eberflus contributed to them losing the game and didn't admit it.

Remember, several defenders admitted after the game that they had pushed Eberflus to cover more on that play, knowing that a first down would have put Washington within Hail Mary range. The head coach didn't listen. His lack of knowledge about what happened to Stevenson must have made it clear to them that Eberflus had no idea what he was doing. At this point, players began to speak out more. The energy on and off the field disappeared. The boys refused to deny that the head coach had lost the locker room.

Things spiral. Matt Eberflus is looking for solutions. Firing the offensive coordinator is the obvious survival move for any head coach when they know the ship is sinking. It's pure desperation. None of this really matters. The chances of him being able to get the boys to join in again are almost nil. Once you lose it, there is no going back. The players lost a lot of respect for Eberflus that night in Washington. He will almost certainly regret this mistake when he is fired in January.