Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is shedding new light on the reaction within Halas Hall after former defensive coordinator Alan Williams abruptly resigned his post last week.
Williams’ resignation was made public on Wednesday, and while many rumors surrounded that departure, Eberflus said he moved quickly to inform his players of the situation.
“When the news came out and all those crazy things were being said, I felt we needed to clarify,” he said.
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Eberflus told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that he went to each position group’s meeting room to explain the unfolding situation, and to dispel rumors around the resignation.
“I said ‘hey, all those rumors and stuff going on right now, that crazy stuff, none of that is true,’” he recalled. “’Alan is resigning,’ and I said ‘we’ll be keeping all the same responsibilities on defense and I’ll be calling the plays on game day.’”
GM Ryan Poles addressed the rumors of an FBI raid at Halas Hall publicly, calling them false.
“I don’t have many details to add there,” Poles said. “We try to work in truth. I mean, I know there's a ton of misinformation out there yesterday. We talked about Halas Hall being raided. Completely false. Don't even know where that came from. Worked with (Bears president) Kevin (Warren) and (Bears chairman) George (McCaskey), all of our leadership to make sure we were handling it the right way, communicating properly.”
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Williams released a statement explaining that he resigned because he needed to focus on his health and his family. Williams also said he plans to return to coaching once he has addressed his health.