Bears coach reportedly had 'zero faith' in starting quarterback last year

The Chicago Bears struggled mightily during fourth quarters last season, and new reports have uncovered a possible explanation.

According to Erik Lambert of Sports Mockery, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus had little confidence in quarterback Justin Field’s decision-making last season, which prompted Eberflus to call plays in an uncharacteristic fashion during fourth quarters.

“There were rumblings in and around the (Bears’) building that Eberflus’ decision-making in the 4th quarter stemmed from his having zero faith in Fields as a passer,” Lambert said.

For his report, Lambert sourced another piece from Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron, who went into even greater detail about the Eberflus-Fields tension.

“There are plenty of people around the team (media and non-media) who believe that many of Eberflus’ questionable decisions were made because he didn’t trust Justin Fields to do the right thing with the football,” Zimmerman said.

“On 3rd and 6 from the opponent’s 30, Eberflus was more comfortable running the football and settling for a field goal than risking a turnover on a pass or a bad sack that knocks them out of field goal range.”

“If that’s the case, we should see a big improvement in his fourth-quarter decision-making with a different quarterback under center. If we still see the conservative decisions because the Bears have a rookie QB, at some point, just believe people when they show you who they are. At that point, it would be safe to say that Eberflus is your typical conservative defensive head coach.”

Things already feel different with the 2024 Bears, and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams is a huge reason why. Will the Eberflus-Williams combination result in more fruitful fourth quarter outcomes for Chicago this season?

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