Of Mice and Munsters

Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus has accomplished the impossible, rendering White Sox manager Mickey Mouse competent and coherent in comparison. That, my friends, is no easy task. But Eberflus has been hard at work this entire season. The Bears may be 0-4, but you’d never know it listening to Eberflus. He has the extraordinary ability to see progress where mere mortals detect only dysfunction and defeat. The Munsters lose to the Chiefs 41-10? Quarterback Justin Fields moved the ball nicely for a score in garbage time. There’s lots of garbage time with the Bears. Eberflus’s charges blew a twenty-one point third quarter lead on Sunday to lose to the Broncos, 31-28. With just under three minutes left in the game, Eberflus decided to go for fourth-and-one at the Denver eighteen. OK, but why add five or so yards to Khalil Herbert’s task by setting up in the shotgun? Because “It was [just] a half yard, so I felt great about getting that right there,” the man who is not a deer in the headlights told reporters after the game. “Every situation is different. You have to look at the game in its entirety. I think the way we were running the football and the confidence that we had on offense in that moment, I would say we’re going to do that right there.” [story in yesterday’s Tribune] But Coach, you didn’t pick up the first down. And then we have the ongoing saga of unhappy wide receiver Chase Claypool, who was a healthy inactive for the game but didn’t attend the game with the other inactives. Claypool is also persona non grata this week at Halas Hall. Why is that? Because “In the building, we feel like that’s best for the team,” Deer Man was quoted in today’s Tribune. “And really it comes down to this: When you’re evaluating players in meetings, in practice, in walk-throughs and all those things, it’s important you evaluate the entire body of work, right? We just feel that right now Chase is going to be out of the building. It’s best for our football team.” So, to evaluate a player, the player shouldn’t be around? I hope Mickey Mouse sends Eberflus a Christmas card this year, and maybe get it in the mail early. Eberflus may not be around much longer.