LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Matt Eberflus panicked. He looked down at the barber's cape and saw several inches of his wet hair clinging to the navy fabric.
"Funk, that seems like a lot off." "Don't worry about it," said his barber, Lawrence Funk. "Let me do it.
" Eberflus laughed and surrendered. He had a new lease on his coaching life, so he might as well try out a new look. He'd walked into the barber shop at Halas Hall that Tuesday in February armed with a few reference photos.
He'd worn a traditional gentleman's cut for years but his wife, Kelly, really wanted him to go shorter. He kept his hair long with a short sideburn and slicked it back with a shiny gel every day, and he kept a clean shave. He always hated when the longer hair above his ear wouldn't cooperate and his daughters would laugh at him when it looked like he had wings flapping out of the back of his headset when the cameras caught him on the sideline.
Eberflus hadn't had a news conference in a month, so there had been no reason to shave. And when Funk saw the silver stubble combined with Kelly's ideas for a shorter cut, he saw a brand new Bear. Funk convinced Eberflus to keep the beard, lined it up and blended it into the now short sides of his hair.
Two days later, Eberflus took to the lectern to introduce his two new coordinators for the 2024 season, but the fans commenting on the livestream had more to say about his new look than the new hires. Just a month earlier, this same comment section had been calling for.