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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears fired running backs coach David Walker, coach Matt Eberflus announced Wednesday morning.
A source told ESPN that Walker’s dismissal was because of his behavior in the workplace. Walker had been previously reprimanded by the Bears’ human resources department for workplace conduct, according to the source, and a second such instance led to his firing.
“As the head coach, we are building a program and have standards to uphold to as a staff and organization both on and off the field, and those standards were not met,” Eberflus said.
Eberflus added that Walker’s dismissal was “disappointing from my vantage point.”
“We have a standard to uphold to,” he said. “When that standard is not met, we act. We act accordingly, and that’s what we did today.”
Walker, 53, is the second Bears assistant coach to leave the staff this season. Former defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned Sept. 20, citing the need to “take care of my health and family.”
The Bears’ HR department also was involved in the decision that led to Williams’ resignation, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, but that instance is not related to Walker’s firing.
Eberflus said the Bears made the decision to fire Walker collectively with the support of general manager Ryan Poles, president/CEO Kevin Warren and team ownership.
Although Eberflus expressed disappointment over the firing, he also doubled down in his belief that the Bears do not have a culture issue despite the abrupt departures of two assistant coaches and other off-field matters that have surfaced throughout the first eight weeks of the season.
“The culture in our building is outstanding,” Eberflus said. “The guys work hard every single day. The relationship piece is there. We care about each other. We’re working diligently to get this thing turned. We’re 2-2 in our last four. One game was real close, we had a chance at that one. We really feel we’re turning the corner there, and we are excited about this week.
“But to answer your question, our culture is awesome.”
When asked to describe the specific “standard” he referenced multiple times, Eberflus pointed to the set of guidelines he says he addressed with the entire team when he was hired.
“It’s really clear, in terms of how we treat each other with respect,” Eberflus said. “Being on time and working hard — that’s the first thing I laid out to everybody in the building. That’s the standard that we operate in. And then we have standards on the field, for operation in terms of performance. Your standard of performance on the field is based on effort, based on focus, based on intensity, and we measure every one of those every single day, in practice and in the games, relative to the players’ performance. But yeah, it’s very clean-cut.”
Eberflus said that there were no red flags with Walker’s behavior and that he takes pride in the process he used when hiring coaches onto his staff.
“I would just say that when you look at things, you’ve got to make sure you look at everything, and I think we did that,” Eberflus said. “I know we did that. Again, this is a process where something happened and then we’re taking action on it. We all came together to do it. It was good.”
Bears assistant coach Omar Young, who has been working with wide receivers and quarterbacks, will take over coaching Chicago’s running backs.
