{"id":202647,"date":"2024-11-30T14:30:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T19:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=202647"},"modified":"2024-11-30T01:32:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T06:32:27","slug":"should-the-indianapolis-colts-re-hire-matt-eberflus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/30\/should-the-indianapolis-colts-re-hire-matt-eberflus\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Indianapolis Colts Re-hire Matt Eberflus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bears<\/a> have fired<\/a> head coach Matt Eberflus. Should the Indianapolis Colts hire him to be their next defensive coordinator? The Colts, of course, are very familiar with Eberflus. He served as the team\u2019s defensive coordinator for four seasons before becoming the Bears\u2019 head coach.<\/p>\n

Gus Bradley, the Colts\u2019 current defensive coordinator, has been criticized<\/a> throughout this season. It\u2019s unclear whether he and the team will part ways in the offseason. If Bradley leaves, Eberflus will likely be a candidate to replace him in 2025.<\/p>\n

Should the Indianapolis Colts Re-hire Matt Eberflus?<\/h2>\n

Matt Eberflus\u2019 Coaching Career<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Matt Eberflus began his coaching career at his Alma mater: The University of Toledo. During his nine years there, he served as a student assistant, graduate assistant, outside linebackers coach, defensive backs coach, and recruiting coordinator. After leaving Toledo, Eberflus spent eight seasons as defensive coordinator at Missouri from 2001-08.<\/p>\n

Eberflus began his NFL career with the Cleveland Browns<\/a> as linebackers coach. He then spent seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> as a linebackers coach and passing game coordinator.<\/p>\n

Later on, Eberflus served as the Colts\u2019 defensive coordinator from 2018-2021. He inherited an Indy defense that ranked 30th in the NFL in scoring and total yards the previous season. During his first year, he helped the unit improve to 10th in scoring and 11th in yards.<\/p>\n

Under Eberflus\u2019 guidance, the Colts were the league\u2019s only defense to rank in the top 10 in scoring, run defense, and takeaways in each of the 2020 and 2021 seasons. They also finished in the top 10 in run defense and takeaways in all four of his seasons with Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

The Bears then hired<\/a> Eberflus in January 2022. Unfortunately, his head coaching career didn\u2019t quite go like he wanted it to. Eberflus finished with a lousy 14-32 record during his Chicago tenure. Following a disastrous Thanksgiving loss<\/a> to the Detroit Lions<\/a>, he became just the first head coach in franchise history to be fired midseason. And that\u2019s crazy to think about, knowing the Bears have been a team now for 104 years.<\/p>\n

Does The Hire Make Sense for the Colts?<\/h3>\n

Thus far, Matt Eberflus hasn\u2019t proven that he\u2019s a legendary NFL head coach. But good coordinators aren\u2019t always good head coaches. Just look at Josh McDaniels. While he achieved a ton of success as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, he was just 20-33 as head coach of the Denver Broncos<\/a> and Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n

Robert Saleh is another example. Like Eberflus, he was also fired<\/a> this season. He was a fantastic defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers but finished with a 20-36 record as head coach of the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

Again, Eberflus wasn’t successful in Chicago, but he could emerge as a sensational defensive coordinator for the Colts if they choose to move on from Bradley. The Colts’ defense has struggled for the most part this season. They currently rank 27th in the league, allowing an average of 142.6 rushing yards per game. Plus, they\u2019re 27th against the pass, allowing 233.3 yards per contest through the air. Eberflus could help turn the Colts’ defense around like he did during his first tenure with the franchise. So yes, re-hiring him makes sense.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Marc Lebryk – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Eberflus, who was recently fired by the Chicago Bears, could become a candidate to be the next defensive coordinator for the Colts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":202776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,54],"tags":[7403,681,7800,8851],"class_list":["post-202647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","category-editorials","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-gus-bradley","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-matt-eberflus"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}