Eberflus and the power of football names

[JWL]

Today on this forum I shared some sections from an 11-page document I put together over the course of several days and then presented as a midseason report to some people. I did share some of my thoughts on the end of the Thanksgiving Day Bears debacle in a thread here last year but my full writing on Matt Eberflus probably should be shared here.

I had started writing this thing the day before Thanksgiving and finished it a few days after Matt Eberflus was fired. When I presented this on 12/4, I had to post an update about the firing but wanted to keep my pre-Eberflus firing comments in the piece.


Matt Eberflus
I have long had a theory about head coach and quarterback names. They need to have a good surname.

“Lombardi. A certain magic still lingers in the very name. It speaks of duels in the snow and November mud.” -Steve Sabol of NFL Films

I sound like Mike Francesa or John Madden himself with this next line but Is John Madden John Madden if his name was Tyler Biadasz? Tyler Biadasz is actually the name of an offensive lineman for the Washington Commanders. Can you imagine a teenager mowing lawns to save up money for the latest Biadasz video game?

Blaine Gabbert. I knew that 1st round drafted quarterback was doomed before he threw his first NFL pass.

Bradshaw. Namath. Montana. Brady. Manning. Elway. All great names for quarterbacks.

Lombardi. Noll. Walsh. Gibbs. Parcells. Landry. Shula. All great names for head coaches. Belichick might be the exception. He has sort of an odd surname and it is not easy for people to spell.

Eberflus. It sounds like a 17th century disease. “Young Jebediah was stricken with the eberflus and passed away in December.”

Eberflus is not long for the job. He seems to be a nice man but I don’t think he is a good NFL head coach. I would be surprised if he is still the Bears head coach by the weekend the NFL playoffs start.

Update- Eberflus was fired on November 29th. The last straw was the nonsense he was involved in at the end of the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.

The final plays of that game-
4-14-CHI 46 (:56) (Shotgun) C.Williams pass incomplete deep right to D.Moore.
PENALTY on DET-K.Vildor, Defensive Pass Interference, 29 yards, enforced at CHI 46 - No Play. X17
1-10-DET 25 (:46) (Shotgun) C.Williams pass incomplete short middle to D.Moore [D.Reader].
Timeout #2 by CHI at 00:43.
2-10-DET 25 (:43) (Shotgun) C.Williams pass short left to K.Allen pushed ob at DET 13 for 12 yards (A.Robertson).
PENALTY on CHI-T.Jenkins, Illegal Use of Hands, 10 yards, enforced at DET 25 - No Play.
2-20-DET 35 (:36) (Shotgun) C.Williams sacked at DET 41 for -6 yards (Z.Smith).
3-26-DET 41 (:06) (No Huddle, Shotgun) C.Williams pass incomplete deep right to R.Odunze.

The Bears faced 3rd down and extremely long with a half minute remaining and one timeout. They did not have to rush. The goal should have been to complete a pass anywhere on the field and then let the clock go down to 3, 2, or 1 second and call a timeout to then attempt a field goal to send the game into overtime.

The likelihood of converting 3rd-down-and-26 for a first down is low so my opinion on what the Bears should have done is exponentially better than any other option. Terry Bradshaw said he could run eight plays in 32 seconds. Okay, but it was 3rd-down-and-26, Mr. Bradshaw. If the Bears converted for a first down, then they maybe could have run two or three more pass plays with the ball thrown into the end zone. Realistically, one pass play, then a timeout, and then a field goal attempt was the way this was supposed to go.

What we saw instead was Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams in a rushed, frantic state. When the clock was at 24 seconds I said to myself, “Okay, let’s go here.” At 19 seconds, “This is about to be a problem.” At 15 seconds, “This is a problem.” At 11 seconds, “This is a real big problem.” When the ball was snapped at the 6 or 7 second mark, “This is the final play of the game.”

The pass fell incomplete. The clock showed 0:00. The camera caught Eberflus standing there like he saw a ghost.

When I thought, “This is a real big problem”, Eberflus should have used the final timeout. His quarterback clearly was not settled. With 11 seconds and the clock stopped, then the instructions would have been for Williams to throw a sideline route. If nobody were to get open, then just throw the ball out of bounds. If the receiver caught the pass and got out of bounds or the pass was incomplete, the next play would have been the field goal attempt.

Williams needs to take some of the blame for this gaffe but he is a rookie. The head coach should have handled this better. He made a mistake by not calling a timeout at around the 11-second mark.

Now he is done as Bears head coach.

[JameisBrownston]

Is John Madden John Madden if his name was Tyler Biadasz?

That, of course, depends on whether or not Tyler actually do be odd-ish. If he do in fact be that way, I find it rather apt! If John Madden were Tyler, well, John could be odd-ish at times, so I think it could work out swimmingly if I do say so.

[RichardBak]

What if Joe Schmidt's name had been Lance Sweetpea?

[JWL]

What if Joe Schmidt's name had been Lance Sweetpea?

He might not have made it to the NFL with such a name.

[JuggernautJ]

Bronko Nagurski (perfect example of which you speak)

Joe Don Looney -- "Never has a man been more aptly named." -- Don Meredith

[ShinobiMusashi]

It is something that has always drove me crazy, the differences in names from baseball to football. Football you had guys like Dan Fortman, Mike Alstott, but baseball everybody had some weird bubbly soft name like Buster Posey or Skipper Jones.

[RichardBak]

It is something that has always drove me crazy, the differences in names from baseball to football. Football you had guys like Dan Fortman, Mike Alstott, but baseball everybody had some weird bubbly soft name like Buster Posey or Skipper Jones.

Well, baseball has given us Oil Can Boyd, No Neck Williams, Big Papi, Three-Finger Brown, Double Duty Radcliffe, Joey Bats, and The Big Hurt, so it hasn't been all Mr. Rogers Neighborhood when it comes to names.

[Brian wolf]

Remember Bubby-to-Weegy for the Steelers? ... I loved that Pete Axthelm crack ... he would freak out over player injuries/missed games today, if he were still here.

[JuggernautJ]

Remember Bubby-to-Weegy for the Steelers? ... I loved that Pete Axthelm crack ... he would freak out over player injuries/missed games today, if he were still here.

I loved the 80's Bengals for their QB's names...

I can hear a George Carlin routine going "something like this:"

Who ya got at quarterback?
We got Boomer and Turk...

What could possibly go wrong?

[sheajets]

All I know is Russ Grimm could never be a 5'9 speedy little slot receiver. Lynn Swann could not be a bulldozing fullback