Why Matt Eberflus Fraternized with 'the Enemy'
No less a source than Matt Eberflus himself explained why he was sitting Wednesday night at the Marquette-UConn game with Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
In a comment put on Twitter by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Eberflus was merely on campus with his daughter and given courtside seats where the Green Bay Packers boss was sitting. Eberflus got the tickets through the school.
Pelissero tweeted:
"Even NFL coaches have #dadlife. From Matt Eberflus: 'My youngest daughter is a senior and we are looking at colleges to attend and one of her finalists is Marquette. We were visiting the campus today and wanted to attend the home finale versus UConn. The basketball program was gracious to get us court side seats. Thank you to Shaka… best of luck to Marquette in NCAA Tournament….' "
Seeing their coach sitting with the coach of the team's biggest rival and nemesis in recent years was enough to set a Bears fan base already on edge right over it.
Actually, in ancient Bears and Packers lore, George Halas and Vince Lombardi and before that Halas and Curly Lambeau had been friendly. Halas in the 1950s came and spoke at a rally in Green Bay designed to get voters to approve public stadium funding. If the Packers hadn't obtained such funding, they might have moved from Green Bay to Milwaukee. Of course, Halas' motivation might have been for his own team's good because putting the Packers in Milwaukee might have cut into his own fan base a bit. There are plenty of Bears fans in the Milwaukee and stateline area. The Packers had been playing at City Stadium, a field meant for high school football, until that referendum passed for Lambeau Field.
Halas also helped get the team reinstated to the NFL in 1923 after being booted following a scandal in the late 1921 season. They used three Notre Dame players who still had college eligibility and they played under assumed names during a non-league game against Racine billed as the "state championship" game.
It worked the other way, too. During the depression with the league in formative years, Halas obtained a $1,500 loan from the Packers.
Of course, in recent years the Bears' utter futility against the Packers has been enough to frustrate the fan base to the point of overreacting to the photos of the two coaches courtside.
They have lost 10 straight games to Green Bay, matching their longest losing streak against the Packers.
Their last win came in Matt Nagy's first year as coach, when the Bears clinched the NFC North title with Eddie Jackson's interception of Aaron Rodgers in the end zone late during a 24-17 victory in Week 15.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
