Bears head coach Matt Eberflus confirmed that the team has fired running backs coach David Walker to start his Wednesday press conference.
Those reports indicated that Walker’s firing came with the involvement of the team’s human resources department and was related to his workplace behavior. Eberflus wouldn’t comment on that directly, but did say Walker fell short of the standard the organization has set for its employees.
“As the head coach, we are building a program and have standards to uphold to as a staff and organization, both on and off the field, and those standards were not met,” Eberflus said in a prepared statement. “I’m not going to get into details other than he’s no longer on the staff.”
Walker is the second coach to leave Eberflus’ staff this season and Eberflus said Walker’s departure was not related to former defensive coordinator Alan Williams’ resignation. The pair of abrupt departures led to questions about Eberflus’ responsibility for things not working out and whether that reflects poorly on the culture he’s building.
Eberflus said “the responsibility is there because I’m the head football coach” and called the team’s culture “outstanding” while defending both the vetting process and saying he thought it was a positive that the team acted when something was wrong.
Omar Young will move from assistant quarterbacks and wide receivers coach to running backs coach. He has been a running backs coach on the collegiate level and also worked with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy in Green Bay.