Matt Eberflus explains firing of RB coach, talks replacement |
CHICAGO - History is repeating itself in Chicago. Another Wednesday, another coach is no longer with the Bears. This time, it is running backs coach David Walker.
When asked by the media about Walker being fired, head coach Matt Eberflus initially did not have much to say. “We have made the decision that our running back coach, Coach Walker, has been relieved of his duties,” Eberflus said. “As the head coach, we are building a program and have standards to uphold as a staff and organization, both on and off the field, and those standards were not met.” Eberflus further stated that the “we” in that statement not only involved himself but also CEO Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles. While this is not something Eberflus would comment on, it was reported by ESPN’s Courtney Cronin that he was fired for “behavior in the workplace.” A second offense ultimately led to his dismissal from the organization. “We’re all disappointed. It’s never good when this has to happen and certainly a disappointment,” Eberflus said. “But I do know this, adversity makes you stronger in your personal life, in your team life, it does make you stronger. It’s just how you come through it. It’s how you respond to it.” Adversity has certainly been the story of the season for the Chicago Bears. Earlier this season, back in September on the same day offensive lineman Braxton Jones was placed on injured reserve (IR), defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned and that was reported as a result of some kind of behavior on his part. This is clearly concerning for the future of the franchise since both Williams and Walker were hired by Eberflus. Still, he maintains that there is a standard he has established and that the standard is quite clear. “It’s really clear in terms of how we treat each other with respect, being on time and working hard. That’s the first thing that I laid out to everybody in the building, and that’s the standard that we operate in,” Eberflus said. “Then, we have standards on the field for operation in terms of performance. Your standard for performance is based on effort, based on focus, based on intensity, and we measure everyone of those every single day in practice and in the games in terms of relative to the player’s performance. But, it’s very clean-cut.” Events such as these do not bode well for Eberflus being the head coach of the Bears next season. He was favored to be the first head coach fired, although Josh McDaniels took care of that by getting fired from the Las Vegas Raiders today. Still, Eberflus definitely seems like a candidate for getting fired at the end of the season. In regard to the new running backs coach, assistant quarterbacks and wide receivers coach Omar Young will be stepping into the role of running backs coach. Young has previously coached running backs, doing so as an intern with the Cleveland Browns in 2015 and being the running backs and co-special teams coordinator for Eastern Illinois University in 2020 and 2021. “Omar Young will be taking over the running back coaching spot today, has a really good experience with that, has coached at the college level, also the pro level,” Eberflus said. “He was currently working with the receivers and also the passing game with the quarterbacks, and he’ll make that transition really good.” The New Orleans Saints, who the Bears will be playing this coming Sunday (Noon / CBS), are tied for seventh in the least number of rushing touchdowns allowed this season with four, although they allow an average of 4.3 yards per carry. So, this could be an alright game for Young to get back into coaching the backs, who are crucial to the success of the Bears offense. However, he is still working without the top back on the team, Khalil Herbert, who remains on IR. Rookie Roschon Johnson appears to be going into the starting role once again.
