Ready to Delegate and Lead an Entire Team

What Colts coach Frank Reich thinks of Bears coach Matt Eberflus should be obvious by the mere fact he came on a conference call Tuesday to discuss his former defensive coordinator.

After all, the guy is taking away the majority of the Colts defensive coaching staff to Chicago and Reich was still willing to give glowing comments about the new Bears coach.

"He's not going to play games, he's going to be direct," Reich said of Eberflus. "He's going to stick to what he believes in. You're not going to be able to find ways to manipulate him, or you're not going to be able to fool him. Strong conviction, clear vision, so I think those are some of the things that stick out."

Eberflus even brings along an emotional streak to the job, even though he described himself as being more level-headed at his introductory press conference.

"Oh I can promise you he can get angry and emotional in the best of ways," Reich said, laughing. "I think his coaching style is his, Matt's coaching style is very intentional about every move. There's a clear standard, there's a clear process and there's a clear vision for what its going to take. So you know as far as, he's not a big yeller and screamer but he has an intensity. You know you get around Flus, feel the intensity. He can get emotional, he'll verbalize that but it's not necessarily all screaming and yelling although he can raise his voice, he can get after guys."

Reich went from offensive coordinator to head coach and realizes the big challenge facing Eberflus.

"I think the biggest adjustment is, you're not just responsible for one unit," Reich said. "You've got to touch every player on the team. You're not just the offensive coordinator, or defensive coordinator. You're the head coach.

"So, you've got to be very intentional about how you structure your day, and your time to really make sure that you've got your hands on everything. You've got to hire the right people. You've gotta, like, the staff that you hire is everything. You've got to trust those guys to do their job. You've gotta coach the coaches, and make sure that they're carrying out the vision that you have, and then that that vision is being carried down to the players."

Already there is evidence Eberflus realizes he needs to be coaching an entire team and not just the new Bears 4-3 defense. That's because he just plans to give up calling defensive play calling.

This is what accountability looks like.
Matt Eberflus is the guy for the job #DaBears pic.twitter.com/JWIwP3bJ3o
— TonyThePodBoss (@TonythePodBoss) January 28, 2022

Now it will be on Eberflus to keep following up on the offensive plans on a daily basis with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.

"For me, as a former quarterback and then quarterback coach, it would've been easy for me to just come in here and gravitate towards the quarterbacks all the time," Reich said. "So, just how to get myself, and intentionally schedule it into my day to make sure that I stood in some defensive meetings."

So it will be up to Eberflus to be good at delegating.

"It's a big job, right? It's too much for one person," Reich said. "You have to hire people that you believe in and you trust. And then you have to be willing to delegate and empower people to carry out the vision.

Some thoughts from yesterday’s presser. Nagy never established an identity in Chicago. Clearly, that won’t be the case with Eberflus. His vision serves two purposes: builds a profile that Poles needs to scout for and creates accountability among the players.
— dan durkin (@djdurkin) February 1, 2022

"It's not going to be perfect. You're going to make mistakes. You have to have patience. You have to have deep conviction because you're going to make some mistakes along the way, you're going to learn along the way. You have to be willing to give yourself some grace along the way, give others some grace but you also have to drive the ship."

In the end, Reich expects success from the new Bears coach because he saw someone who could delegate and was ready to be a head coach.

"I felt that from Day 1," Reich said.

“Matt [Eberflus] used to come to practice when he was a college coach. He’d watch, take notes, talk to coaches. But when Rod Marinelli worked with me in Tampa, he said he has a young coach who is going to be special and you should stay in touch with him.”

-Tony Dungy (2019)
— Max Markham (@MaxMarkhamNFL) February 1, 2022

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