Matt Eberflus mocked for ‘dumbest’ comment after Hail Mary disaster
Jayden Daniels is calling it God’s gift. Mike Greenberg’s calling it Matt Eberflus’.
Chicago’s head coach, after witnessing the Washington Commanders top his Bears in spectacular fashion on Sunday, told reporters that the play immediately preceding the game-winning, buzzer-beating Hail Mary “doesn’t really matter.”
“That’s one of the five dumbest things I’ve heard a human being say, in my entire life, in any context,” Greenberg told the “Get Up” crew on Monday morning.
The play prior, an unguarded 13-yard out route that set up the winning play, left the “Get Up” analysts as mystified as the host.
Damien Woody was unable to put his appraisal into words and stared up towards the ceiling in silent disbelief.
Rex Ryan stammers his way through pseudo-comprehension before throwing it over to former quarterback Dan Orlovsky.
“Dan, is it easier to throw the ball 50 to 60 yards or 80 yards?” Ryan asks.
Greenberg cut back into conversation before Orlovsky had a chance to answer, though the camera is following Woody, who has since risen from his chair and is now pacing the studio.
“If he says those 15 yards didn’t matter… Those 15 yards cost you the game every bit as much as the hail mary play at the very end [did],” Greenberg said.
With six seconds on the clock and Washington backed up to their own 35, Commanders’ quarterback Daniels hit Terry McLaurin on a short out route to advance the ball up to about midfield.
There’s not a single defender within 15 yards of McLaurin when he makes the catch because the Bears had sent four to rush the quarterback and dropped the remaining seven defenders way down-field to prevent the touchdown.
Even in these “prevent” schemes, the “Get Up” crew points out that most units place some defensive presence near the sidelines to make this exact play at least somewhat challenging; Daniels probably wouldn’t be able to reach the end zone on a Hail Mary attempt from so far back even at full health, much less while contending with his rib injury.
But those 13 yards put the rookie sensation in range and he delivered. The ball traveled 65 yards through the air before coming down right near the goal line, where it was tipped backward into the arms of Noah Brown, who was standing all alone thanks to a stunning breakdown by the Bear’s defense.
The rest, as they say, is history. Greenberg thinks Eberflus should be, too.
“If I own the team, and I hear the coach say that after the game, I have serious, serious conversations amongst people about whether he is qualified to be the head coach of a National Football League team,” he said.
The Bears (4-3) will look to bounce back against the Cardinals next Sunday. The Commanders (6-2) travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the Giants in Week 9.
