Jaylon Johnson ‘went crazy’ on Matt Eberflus after Bears’ Thanksgiving loss to Lions

NFL locker rooms can often determine the fate of a head coach. A happy and supportive locker room can lead to job security. If it’s the opposite? Well, Matt Eberflus knows what happens next.

The Chicago Bears fired Eberflus on Friday after losing their sixth-straight game of the season. It was another one-score defeat for Flus, whose record dropped to an abysmal 5-19 in those situations. The Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions may have been the worse, though. You know the story by now, the Bears let the clock run out rather than call the timeout they had remaining, regroup, and try one more play to get into field goal range to force overtime.

Bears players and fans were left speechless in the moment. It was a surreal, “what the hell just happened” experience. And as the dust settled, emotions became anything but.

Bears fans called for Eberflus to be fired immediately. As for the locker room? It finally unraveled.

“Jaylon (Johnson) went crazy,” one Bears player told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. “He was very emotional and pissed, but rightfully so. He’s been here longer than most. He was going off more so at (Eberflus).”

Sometimes, all it takes is for a team leader and one of its highest-profile players to say enough is enough. For the Bears, maybe that was Johnson. Accoridng to Russini, Johnson wasn’t alone. She cited a Bears staffer who said the locker room was ugly and that there was a lot of yelling.

READ: Matt Eberflus breaks silence for first time since being fired by Bears

That’s dysfunction at its finest, which isn’t the players’ fault. It begins with the coaching staff and the example they set. Eberflus was the poster boy for dysfunction over the last six weeks, so it comes as no surprise that it trickled down to the locker room.

It can also be described as leadership, a group of players who know they won’t get back on the winning track if Eberflus remained. They took ownership of the situation, and that, in itself, is a big win.