Cowboys defensive coordinator describes his feelings about returning to the stadium where he used to coach.
Matt Eberflus is returning to Chicago and pardon the skepticism from Chicago fans everywhere, but his thoughts on what kind of reaction he'll get from Bears fans is either not to be believed."I'm always grateful and have much gratitude for my whole coaching career," Eberflus said of his Chicago years.
"You know, so you always look back at everything, how you can learn, how you can grow and get better and improve.One way Chicagoans would say he could have grown when he left would be to learn to call timeouts properly, but as defensive coordinator he doesn't need to be concerned about this now. Eberflus isn't giving out anything on the game plans but did say coach Brian Schottenheimer has talked to him about the Bears players he knows who are on the team in terms of scouting."I think that's important to do with every opponent because we have several coaches that were there last year and he's talking to everybody about it—strengths, weaknesses, where we can gain an advantage and just gathering information about different things." Ebrflus' defensive staff includes linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, secondary coach David Overstreet, defensive passing game coordinator Andre Curtis and assistant defensive line coach Bryan Bing. They also have former Bears special teams assistant Carlos Polk.September 18, 2025 Of more importance is the group of players Eberflus is handling now and he's excited about a new pass rusher. Jadeveon Clowney will play this week after signing and his snaps could be limited.It's not something Bears fans like hearing because of the reluctance of GM Ryan Poles to wade into the edge rush free agent market but they're also happy about Clowney's shape and ability to step in and contribute so soon.The scheme Eberflus uses will be familiar to Bears fans because of its heavy reliance on zone. According to Football Insights, Eberflus' defense is the only one not to use man to man at all this year. It's been all zone. By comparison, the Bears have used some form of man-to-man 28% of coverages, tied for 13th most. "Yeah I do that every year," he said. "You have to. You come up with different aspects of your scheme that you need to improve but it also comes down to the players that you have available to you.In just one quarter we can clearly see how awful a coach Matt Eberflus was. Teams need to understand there's no reason to stick with mediocrity for the sake of continuity. If a coach is good, he's usually going to be good immediately.This will probably cause many rolling eyeballs in Chicago as Eberflus was often said by critics to be inflexible and not playing to the strengths of his players. "I could list a lot of things that I learned ," Eberflus said. "But the biggest thing is that you've got to be able to communicate well and do a good job there with everybody that's working."If Matt Eberflus walks into Soldier Field Sunday and beats the Bears, that might officially be rock-bottom for the beloved 🐻⬇️Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.
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