Bears LB T.J. Edwards says loss to Lions, Matt Eberflus' firing 'shocking'
Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards was "shocked" by how his team lost last week against the Lions, as well as the team breaking from its century-plus tradition of not firing a head coach in-season by dismissing Matt Eberflus the next day.
"We scrapped and clawed all the way back ... the offense gave us a chance to win," he said Tuesday on 670 The Score's Bernstein and Harris Show. "I don't know necessarily what happened with the communication. I was watching like everyone else. That ball went up, and that was the last play. There was some shock when the game ended. Definitely a tough way to go down.
"I didn't believe that that was our last play."
Edwards said he was unsure what would happen in the aftermath, but said, "It's always shocking," when a coach gets fired during the season.
He was mostly buttoned up about the post-game scene in the locker room, when star cornerback Jaylon Johnson confronted Eberflus about the loss and his tiresome speech to the players.
"You get to the locker room after a hard-fought game, and it was tough," Edwards said. "There's obviously some frustration and things going through guys' heads. We're human. Things come out. You just want to win. Whatever it looks like, you just want to win, and we haven't been."
Edwards got no relief over the weekend, either. With players getting time off following the game Thursday, Edwards joined his wife and her family for the holiday weekend — in Green Bay, Wisc.
"That was a ton of fun," he joked. "Perfect place to be right now."
Edwards joined a host of Bears players discussing the coaching change over the last few days, with some indicating that they wanted or expected it.
The most notable was Johnson, who unloaded on Eberflus in the locker room after he mismanaged the clock.
“At some point, enough is enough as far as expressing frustrations," Johnson said on 670 The Score's Spiegel and Holmes Show on Monday.
Wide receiver DJ Moore added in his weekly appearance on The Score's Mully and Haugh Show, “As the season was going, you figured that was going to happen. [The Lions game] was the last straw.”