LAKE FOREST, Unwell. — Matt Eberflus panicked. He seemed down on the barber’s cape and noticed a number of inches of his moist hair clinging to the navy cloth.
“Funk, that looks like rather a lot off.”
“Don’t be concerned about it,” stated his barber, Lawrence Funk. “Let me do it.”
Eberflus laughed and surrendered. He had a brand new lease on his teaching life, so he would possibly as effectively check out a brand new look.
He’d walked into the barber store at Halas Corridor that Tuesday in February armed with a couple of reference photographs. He’d worn a conventional gentleman’s lower for years however his spouse, Kelly, actually needed him to go shorter. He stored his hair lengthy with a brief sideburn and slicked it again with a shiny gel each day, and he stored a clear shave. He all the time hated when the longer hair above his ear would not cooperate and his daughters would giggle at him when it seemed like he had wings flapping out of the again of his headset when the cameras caught him on the sideline.
Eberflus hadn’t had a information convention in a month, so there had been no purpose to shave. And when Funk noticed the silver stubble mixed with Kelly’s concepts for a shorter lower, he noticed a model new Bear.
Funk satisfied Eberflus to maintain the beard, lined it up and blended it into the now quick sides of his hair. Two days later, Eberflus took to the lectern to introduce his two new coordinators for the 2024 season, however the followers commenting on the livestream had extra to say about his new look than the brand new hires. Only a month earlier, this identical remark part had been calling for his head.
Matt Eberflus bought a beard now?!?! It is official. We’re successful the division
Flus seems mad prepared for a Tremendous Bowl
EBEARDFLUS IS UNDEFEATED
Funk was at his salon downtown whereas Eberflus met the media in Lake Forest. His telephone rang, and it was former Bears guard Kyle Lengthy, who wasted no time.
“Did you chop Flus’ hair?”
“Yeah, on Tuesday.”
“I knew it bro,” Lengthy stated. “That is a stunning man.”
The response was so overwhelmingly optimistic that the coach even purchased himself the Dyson hairdryer, a luxurious styling device that retails for round $429. Funk defined to him he would not have the ability to get the amount he needed if he did not blow dry it first. Then he experimented with vogue and wore white denims and a navy collared sweater to the NFL homeowners assembly.
“Whenever you look nicer and also you costume nicer, individuals respect you extra,” Funk says. “Flus had the longer pushback hair that was type of dangling when the wind’s blowing and he seemed wired. You go from that and get a shorter haircut, develop a beard. He is bought some solar. He seems like a brand new particular person.”
Flus’ glow-up turned the discuss of the city. “The very first thing I stated [on the air] was, I do know that is bizarre. He seems smarter!” says 670 The Rating radio host Dan Bernstein.
And smarter was a giant win for Eberflus, who had hemmed and hawed his means by means of a lot of his media appearances. A haircut and beard alone cannot change a crew’s trajectory, however within the Tremendous Bowl wasteland that’s Chicagoland, a beard that has but to win a sport is already the stuff of legend.
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Late final season, Eberflus was firmly on the new seat because the crew went 7-10 and locked within the No. 1 total choose from the Panthers, their finest probability to draft their long-awaited franchise quarterback. Was the defensive coach with a 10-24 report actually the most effective particular person to develop a rookie quarterback?
“Now have a look at the place we’re at,” Funk says. “A full dialog about how significantly better he seems.”
Chicago is the brand new middle of the NFL universe. Coaching camp tickets bought out for the primary time, simply two minutes after they turned accessible. The crew president is gunning for a brand new stadium to match his lofty imaginative and prescient for the constitution membership that has been caught prior to now, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has vowed to finish the decades-long championship drought, “Exhausting Knocks” cameras are rolling, and Eberflus lastly tasks the half.
NFL PRO SCOUTS spend their days monitoring motion across the league. They curate lists of free brokers, observe harm standing and place depth on all 32 rosters, and acquire particulars on opponent schemes by watching each information convention for each head coach and coordinator. However late final season, whereas grinding mind-numbing information convention tape, one professional scouting director for an AFC crew tracked a really totally different type of change. Chicago’s head coach really seemed comfy?
“He was all the time very uptight and nervous when he needed to discuss,” the scouting director stated. “And now he’s extra chill and relaxed and he isn’t fumbling over his phrases or contradicting himself.”
The scouting director observed the advance in Eberflus someday round Week 15, when the crew collapsed late to the Cleveland Browns, a loss that dropped them to 5-9. He watched Eberflus clarify the loss with extra readability. “I figured he actually should have labored on this and located somebody who might information him,” the scouting director stated.
Eberflus instructed the Chicago Solar-Occasions in June he did not get session or coaching on public talking. However one supply with direct information of Eberflus’ media preparation instructed ESPN that Eberflus did overhaul his media prep, and that the coach went outdoors the group in the course of the season to enlist further assist after a viral information convention mishap in Week 9 the place he struggled to reply easy questions on injured quarterback Justin Fields’ sport standing. Fields was listed as uncertain, not out, the day earlier than the sport, although Eberflus started the presser by saying Fields wouldn’t be taking part in. He stumbled by means of solutions starting from no, he isn’t medically cleared however he is shut, to he would possibly heat up, to “the possibilities are uncertain, 51% that he is in or out and we’ll see the place it’s.”
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Reporters have been pissed off. Followers have been confused.
“The Chicago market is rather like New York,” stated the AFC professional scouting director. “You possibly can’t say, I am not speaking about that, as a result of you are going to get crushed. He was making an attempt to therapeutic massage it, however on the identical time, it’s essential be savvy sufficient to beat across the bush and provides them one thing with out giving them something.”
Eberflus’ agent, Hint Armstrong, declined to touch upon whether or not Eberflus had acquired further assist. “Many coaches are pushed, aggressive individuals, and the actually good ones proceed to adapt, evolve and enhance,” Armstrong stated.
That bumbling presser on Fields’ standing was the final of a run of uncomfortable moments for Eberflus, who earlier final season was so caught off guard by questions on an inactive Chase Claypool {that a} public relations staffer needed to alert reporters that he misspoke concerning the receiver half-hour after the postgame information convention ended. And earlier than that, he needed to reply for the mysterious and sensationalized absence of defensive coordinator Alan Williams throughout Week 2, when it might have been extra applicable for the crew president or proprietor to take questions first.
“Particularly with the extra controversial issues, it would not replicate solely on Eberflus,” stated Bernstein, the radio host. “Bears followers discovered it indicative of an organizational problem. If the coach is that this confused, what does that say about how they’re doing enterprise?”
Bears crew president Kevin Warren spent his first 12 months on the job taking notes on what the group was lacking. In March, he transformed the entrance workplace to satisfy his requirements.
“I am respectfully grasping for this group,” Warren instructed ESPN. “I would like each single division on this group to be considered as the most effective within the trade.”
He fired the VP of public relations who had been chargeable for making ready Eberflus for his each day information conferences, and gave these duties to director of soccer communications Aaron Clark. Warren shifted the SVP who oversaw soccer communications to a brand new function overseeing public and governmental affairs and employed Ted Crews away from the Chiefs for a newly created senior government function overseeing company and soccer communications.
Crews was concerned within the Netflix “Quarterback” collection that featured Patrick Mahomes, and Warren stated having Crews within the constructing is one purpose he felt comfy opening the doorways to “Exhausting Knocks,” a chance that Warren sees as a approach to “message” to the fan base as they “evolve as a company, particularly into the twenty first century.”
Every NFL membership is primarily chargeable for organising the coach for media success, however not all golf equipment prioritize public relations equally. For some organizations, the thought of consistency in messaging is extra of a advertising idea that does not lengthen to the coaches and gamers who give info to the media frequently.
Final season, Fields created a weeklong information cycle when he instructed reporters at a information convention that he felt “robotic and never taking part in like himself” within the Bears’ offense, and Claypool turned a headline when he answered “no” when requested if he felt the teaching employees was placing him in the most effective state of affairs to succeed. These gamers both did not know the crew’s messaging or selected to disregard it.
Many gamers have their very own publicists and advertising brokers. Groups will usually herald outdoors consultants to do media coaching workshops with all of the gamers and coaches, but it surely’s much less widespread for a head coach to look outdoors for employed assist.
“There are numerous guys which are actually good soccer coaches that do not perceive the massive image. Calling the most effective performs on O or D, effectively, no, that is not it. They’ve to have the ability to promote tickets, promote followers, and numerous that’s by means of the media.”
A former NFL head coach
One former repeat NFL coach stated most coaches he is aware of do not trouble as a result of they shortly study successful is the one helpful media technique. (The coach requested anonymity as a result of he did not win in his final cease).
“Invoice Belichick — I would not say can be checked out as glam with the media, however what did he do? He gained,” the previous coach stated. “Much less is extra. It’s aggressive, so you do not wish to be giving an excessive amount of info. You do not wish to calm down an excessive amount of since you get diarrhea of the mouth and also you say one thing that you simply remorse. You need to be on guard.”
Eberflus instructed the Solar-Occasions that he’d been too guarded. Too nervous to say one thing he should not say. Folks round him say he isn’t a naturally evasive particular person, which made it much more troublesome to stroll the superb line of withholding info and nonetheless feeling good about himself when speaking about troublesome conditions.
However he knew he was in bother as a result of the crew was shedding and wanted to hunt any edge he might to maintain his job. On the sector, he modified the way in which he referred to as his protection, normal supervisor Ryan Poles traded for game-changing go rusher Montez Sweat and the unit remodeled into one of many NFL’s finest. And off the sector, he labored to keep away from additional media pitfalls. When requested how he bought extra comfy talking to the media, Eberflus, ever the soccer coach, credited getting in additional reps, “simply the time on activity.”
Eberflus hasn’t given out any extra specifics on his course of, and the Bears’ public relations employees declined to make him accessible for an interview with ESPN on the matter. The trade of sports activities public relations fixers is mysterious and even a bit bit underground. One professional within the discipline (who would not work with Eberflus) would not also have a web site, and declined to talk on the report as a result of their contracts with purchasers embody a privateness requirement.
EBERFLUS IS 54 years outdated with 33 years of teaching expertise. His first NFL job was on Eric Mangini’s Browns employees, the place the ethos of Mangini’s mentor Invoice Belichick dominated: Shield each piece of knowledge.
When Eberflus turned a defensive coordinator in Indianapolis in 2018, he spoke to reporters weekly. Colts reporters bear in mind him as a pleasant man, however one who did not give them something to work with.
“There are numerous guys which are actually good soccer coaches that do not perceive the massive image,” a former head coach stated. “Calling the most effective performs on O or D, effectively, no, that is not it. They’ve to have the ability to promote tickets, promote followers, and numerous that’s by means of the media.”
That is how Eberflus was raised in soccer. So nevertheless he did it, and whoever helped him, he has fought these Belichickian instincts.
Simply how a lot has Eberflus improved? From a D grade to a B+, stated message and media strategist Brett O’Donnell, who has labored with a number of political candidates over the previous 20 years, together with former President George W. Bush. O’Donnell reviewed Eberflus’ earlier than and after information conferences to judge his efficiency.
“Consistency is a large consider communication,” O’Donnell stated. “So when you begin with one reply, you need to follow that reply, and while you change your reply, that invitations extra questions.”
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“It is very clear that when he approached these conditions [before], he did not assume by means of, first, what the powerful questions have been, and second, how he was going to deal with these questions.”
Bears lengthy snapper Patrick Scales, the crew’s longest tenured participant, stated Eberflus “does appear a bit extra polished” when he speaks in entrance of the crew.
“There’s what he is doing, and there is additionally why he is doing it,” Bernstein stated. “This has nothing to do with how good a coach he’s, or whether or not he’ll hold his job, however the concept a middle-aged assistant coach, NFL soccer man, lifer, for him to care sufficient to do that is basically cool.”
“Most individuals in his place, it would not matter, you are the coach of the Bears. You are able to do what you need.”
Head coaches discuss to the media greater than some other crew worker. Former Ravens public relations czar Kevin Byrne stated that he counted one 12 months, and coach John Harbaugh spoke to the media 119 occasions. “On the time we have been leaving John out on the plank on a regular basis,” Byrne stated. “Nobody else was talking.”
Byrne all the time reminded Harbaugh that his viewers wasn’t the reporter asking the query. It was the crew proprietor, and his gamers and coaches. They’re listening to the coach’s message, and if they don’t seem to be listening instantly, somebody near them is.
The NFL is about up for each crew to go 8-9 or 9-8, so, “when you’re 7-10, and also you’re speaking about this factor positively, you could possibly in all probability win an additional 12 months speaking concerning the beneficial properties and specializing in the positives,” stated Juan Lozano, teaching agent for Purple Envelope Sports activities.
Chicago’s earlier regime, with Ryan Tempo and Matt Nagy, made the playoffs in two out of 4 years, in a division that also had Aaron Rodgers. However they failed to pick out the fitting quarterback and misplaced management of that narrative. The Bears seemed like a crew in chaos.
“You want a robust voice that is aware of what he is doing in a press convention,” Lozano stated. “The way you speak about this cannot be this wishy-washy B.S.”
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When Mangini was employed because the coach of the New York Jets in 2006, he’d held just one information convention in his teaching profession. That have did not put together him for the New York media market, the place his Belichickian model did not translate and though he took the Jets to the playoffs his first season, he shortly fell out of favor.
He stated it did not take him lengthy to rent a marketing consultant to observe all his information conferences as a result of he needed the opinion of somebody who wasn’t biased, who might consider him from a worldwide view as a substitute of a Jets perspective. Mangini spoke to his marketing consultant about twice every week, however the work wasn’t sufficient to avoid wasting his job after his third season, when the QB-starved franchise failed to satisfy excessive expectations after Brett Favre bought damage.
“It wasn’t for lack of effort,” Mangini stated. “It simply did not all the time fairly hit.”
“When you get labeled one thing, it is fairly exhausting to dig out of that label. So when you get labeled as being troublesome to work within the media, even when you change, even when you open up, that is the stigma.”
EBERFLUS AND GENERAL supervisor Poles held a joint information convention on coaching camp report day. This January, Poles stated it was his determination to retain Eberflus, with enter from Warren and Bears proprietor George McCaskey. Throughout their two seasons as coach and normal supervisor in Chicago, Poles has been the recipient of many of the optimistic protection. He has finished the seen heavy lifting in assembling a roster that may be the most effective state of affairs a No. 1 total rookie quarterback has ever landed in, whereas Eberflus has needed to reply for many of the crew’s challenges.
If the Bears do not win, many will think about it Eberflus’ fault. In the event that they do win, Williams figures to get a lot of the credit score. To this point, it might really feel like Eberflus is simply there. A sidekick to Williams and Poles.
However not final Friday. Twice in the course of the information convention, reporters directed inquiries to Poles that Eberflus felt he was higher suited to reply. And this time he did not hesitate.
“I will take that one,” he stated.
ESPN reporter Courtney Cronin contributed to this story.
