Ex-Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus responds to reports of film-watching criticisms
Insights from Ben Johnson's debut offseason with the Bears | The Offseason
This week on 'The Offseason': The Bears finish their final week of OTAs with QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze in attendance. The Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer joins the show to talk about what we learned during Ben Johnson's first offseason. Is Caleb Williams the 2nd year QB with the most pressure on him heading into the season? Plus, rookie OT Ozzy Trapilo discusses competing for the starting LT job and his connection to the Doug Flutie Hail Mary game.
The early parts of OTAs in May were harangued by a bombshell report regarding the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams.
The Bears' offseason took a turn when an excerpt of ESPN's Seth Wickersham's book – "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback" – reported the team's former coaching staff, including former head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, did not spend time watching film with the No. 1 overall pick.
Eberflus, now the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, responded to that report on the Doomsday Podcast with long-time NFL reporter Ed Werder.
What they're saying:
As if the Eberflus era didn't have enough bad press, it got worse when Wickersham's book reported Williams didn't have much guidance from the last Bears' coaching staff.
In the excerpt, Williams noted the last coaching staff didn't guide him when it came to watching film.
"No one tells me what to watch. I just turn it on," Williams said according to the excerpt.
Werder asked Eberflus about the film habits on the Doomsday Podcast. Eberflus denied the report.
"In the development of the quarterback position, and really all my positions at the Bears, we always had daily, coached film sessions," Eberflus said. "That was all throughout the entire year. So, that’s what I observed. That’s where it was."
This was sandwiched in the massive bombshell that Williams' family was looking for ways to circumvent the NFL Draft and land Williams in his preferred destination, which was the Minnesota Vikings.
Williams had concerns about the staff in place and their ability to help him succeed at the next level, especially after seeing how the staff mishandled Justin Fields' development.
Eberflus became the first Bears head coach to be fired mid-season amidst what eventually became an 11-game losing streak, which came two weeks after the team fired Waldron.
The other side:
After OTAs practice on May 28, Williams got a chance to respond to what the book reported.
Williams said what was reported wasn't conveyed the way he wanted it to be.
It wasn't that the Bears didn't teach Williams how to watch film or spend time with him in the film room, it was that they never taught him how to watch film more efficiently.
"It wasn't that I didn't know how to watch film, it was trying to figure out the best ways and more efficient ways so that I can watch more film, I can gather more information, so that when I do go out there on gameday, that information I gathered through Monday," Williams said on May 28.
"When we got back, all the way up to whatever day the gameday is, so that when I get out there, I can gather it, I see it, I can react, and it's not me sitting there thinking so much about the rules and these different things."