Bears players were reportedly “angry” with Matt Eberflus in an “ugly” locker room following the disastrous loss to the Lions

Matt Eberflus’ postgame message to “stick together” after the Chicago Bears’ Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions reportedly did not go over well with team members.

The confusing final 32 seconds of the game, in which the Bears were unable to use their final timeout, trailing 23-20, to score a game-winning field goal, was not only poorly received by the front office – Eberflus was under fire Friday – he also lost some of its players.

According to Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini of The Athletic, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, a team captain, was “emotional and upset” about the end of the game and directed his anger at Eberflus.

Johnson wasn’t the only angry bear. Several players and staff members reportedly wondered why a timeout wasn’t taken. It clearly wasn’t just another loss for the 4-8 team.

Eberflus reportedly left the locker room as soon as he finished his speech and talking to the players.

While the Bears’ senior leadership discussed their next steps on Friday, Eberflus held his regularly scheduled video conference with reporters. A little later he was unemployed.

Why was Eberflus allowed to answer questions shortly before his release? Team owner George McCaskey, president and CEO Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles had only decided on the move at their meeting, and there was a feeling that if Eberflus canceled or postponed the media session, alarm bells would ring that a decision had been made be made.

The Bears had never fired a head coach in a season until Friday. Eberflus gave them numerous reasons for this step in the run-up to the Thanksgiving disaster. By the time the locker room was gone, his time was up.