As it turns out, the Bears’ ill-advised decision to let coach Matt Eberflus conduct his day-after press conference before firing him wasn’t spontaneous or accidental.
It was strategic.
Faced with widespread criticism for putting the cart before the horse (and then shooting it), the Bears have pushed their version of the events to the media outlet they partially own. Which has published the team’s version without comment, question, or scrutiny.
“My understanding is George McCaskey, Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles had just begun a meeting that lasted multiple hours when Eberflus’ regularly scheduled press conference started,” tweeted Tom Pelissero of NFL Media on Friday. “A delay would’ve pointed towards a change that at that point hadn’t been decided. By the time the decision was finalized, the presser was long over and Eberflus was informed.”
So, basically, the Bears have confirmed that things happened exactly the way they seemed to have happened. They intentionally and deliberately let Eberflus proceed with his press conference, knowing full well that they were actively discussing the possibility of firing him.
The best approach would have been to expedite the process, treating 9:00 a.m. CT as the deadline for making a decision. The next-best approach would have been to postpone the press conference, making up an excuse if need be. (Not that we condone it, but conjuring semi-plausible lies in order to conceal the truth is like the second line of the P.R. job description.)
The worst approach was to let Eberflus embarrass himself by expressing confidence to the world that he won’t be fired, while the meeting at which his firing was being discussed had just gotten past the small-talk-no-one-cares-about stage.
This is the kind of thing that will make the Bears coaching job less attractive to other coaching candidates who can choose from multiple destinations (e.g., Ben Johnson). Put simply, the next guy needs to look very closely at how they treated the last guy.
And while Bears management presumably has learned a valuable lesson that should keep this from happening to the next coach they inevitably fire, the flaw in the organizational wiring that led to Friday’s outcome needs to be identified, diagnosed, and repaired.
