There’s trouble in the Bears’ lair in Lake Forest. Things have been so bad team management did something for the first time in franchise history — It fired a coach in midseason.
The Bears have called the North Shore community and Lake County, where many of the players and coaches live, home for decades. The team at HQ finally woke up and saw what fans had been carping about.
On-field issues aren’t the only ailments at 1920 Football Drive, also known as Halas Hall in Conway Park in west Lake Forest. The team remains stalled in its quest for a future home arena on Chicago’s lakefront without much support for state funding handouts among Illinois political leaders.
Then there is the lowest blow of all: No Bear, not even rookie quarterback phenom Caleb Williams, is one of the top 10 favorite players nationwide, according to a new survey of National Football League stars.
Tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs is the fan favorite, even in Illinois, according to Google search volume research from FlashPicks, a betting picks, parlays, predictions and online news brand. Yes, people do have too much time on their hands.
The boyfriend of pop singer Taylor Swift receives 201,000 online searches per month in Illinois, more than double anyone else. Williams, though, does come in second with 90,500 searches every month.
The former USC star has thrown 232 passes without an interception, the longest streak for a rookie in NFL history. That’s one bright spot for a season of disappointments.
Also getting a win off the field was the team getting a sought-after tax break last week from taxing bodies in Arlington Heights, where the Bears may yet build a new stadium. Also still out there in the astral world are stadium land offers from Waukegan, Aurora and Naperville.
In the Illinois popularity contest, Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets is tied for third with Kelce’s teammate Patrick Mahomes as both receive an average of 74,000 searches per month. Brock Purdy, San Francisco quarterback, is in fifth with 49,500 monthly searches, ahead of Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals in sixth with 40,500.
Seventh is shared by 49ers’ running back Christian McCaffrey, Packers QB Jordan Love, Kirk Cousins of Atlanta, Russell Wilson of Pittsburgh, and Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins, as all five are searched for an average of 33,100 times, according to FlashPicks.
Perhaps it is Kelce’s relationship with Swift and her legion of followers, or he plays for a winning team with a quality coaching staff that defines his popularity among football fanatics. Unlike the Bears’ former coach.
One could hear the shrieks of Bears lovers across the region, including as far north as Kenosha County, Wisconsin, on Thanksgiving Day, as the team lost yet another close encounter on the gridiron. Ensconced in front of immense television screens near and far from Lake Forest, the chants calling for the head of Coach Matt Eberflus grew in volume after NFC North Division rival the Detroit Lions squeaked out a 23-20 win, their 10th victory in a row.
Team management must have heard fans’ aggrieved outpourings as confusion reigned in the waning seconds of a game the Bears could have won in the end. Eberflus, with time left on his lucrative coaching contract, was given his walking papers.
When a den full of novice footballers, who last got their bells rung when the old North Suburban League ruled Lake County prep football fields, could tell clock decisions were ticking away, the team’s upper cadre concluded — after players knew for most of the season — that the coach’s time was up. Eberflus blundered and bumbled the Bears into another loss, this time before the turkey and stuffing were served, and in front of a national television audience.
The former coach was classy in his remarks following his firing. Where he ends up in the coaching world is probably with a Division III college team. Or perhaps a high school squad.
The Thanksgiving Day loss marked the Bears’ sixth-straight defeat and brought Eberflus’ coaching record to 14-32, including 5-19 in one-score games. According to statistics nerds, that is the worst record in NFL history by any coach with at least 20 one-score games.
Meanwhile, members of the Packers cult continue to smirk. They are licking their chops as the Bears meet the current 9-3 green-and-gold in the last game of the regular season on Jan. 5 at iconic Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
Apparently coaching in that game will be offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, who has been tapped as interim coach until the team’s proverbial nationwide search picks a new full-time coach. Brown begins his interim coaching gig this week, prepping the team for the Dec. 8 game at the San Francisco 49ers. The game is currently scheduled to be televised on Fox beginning at 3:35 p.m.
Since Kevin Warren was named Bears team president and chief executive officer nearly two years ago, there have been definitive changes in the front office at Halas Hall. Bears’ fans are anxious to see if the dysfunction that has torpedoed the ’24-’25 season will end with better HQ decision-making in the coming year.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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