Former Bears coach Matt Eberflus makes return to Chicago, provides valuable intel for Cowboys

FRISCO, Texas — The story of the week surrounding the Dallas Cowboys (1-1) heading to Chicago to take on the 0-2 Bears is obviously Matt Eberflus. 

Dallas’ new defensive coordinator spent the last two-and-three quarters seasons as the Bears head coach, but Chicago unceremoniously fired him after a loss at the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving last year after a time management debacle that ran his record to 14-32.  

“That’s part of being a head coach. That’s what it is,” Eberflus said Thursday. “You’re always going to get questioned on certain decisions and you got to put your best foot forward there.”

However, he denied the notion that he dreaded this week, refusing to dig into any emotional depth about going back to Soldier Field on Sunday.

“No, I look at it as one opportunity for us to be able to go out there and really execute and it’s Game 3. It’s important that we need to improve and everybody needs to improve,” Eberflus said. “Throughout the league everybody has an issue here or there early in the season that they got to improve on. And that’s what we’re looking to do.”

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer opened up more than Eberflus himself about what it’s like to return to a place where a coach was fired. Schottenheimer’s father, Marty, worked as NFL head coach for four different franchises — the Cleveland Browns (1984-1988), the Kansas City Chiefs (1989-1998), Washington (2001) and the Chargers (2002-2006). 

“There’s always scars. You know, you put your heart and soul into this like Matt Eberflus did, and you know, ‘Flus is a damn good football coach. He’s going to be a head coach again. He had a young quarterback, you know, that comes into it. But it takes its toll,” Schottenheimer said. “It really does. It takes its toll, not just on you, but you know, when you sit in these chairs, you are really in charge of 90-something, 100-something families. When you think about the people that are under your watch, and you think about the staff, and you have to call and say, ‘Hey, they’re letting me go.’ Imagine how hard that is. But you know, I think the best thing in the world would be for us to play well, win this game, and give Matt Eberflus the game ball after we play well and beat Chicago.”

“Yeah, there’s always hard moments in coaching. You’re always disappointed when you lose because you put so much into it. The players put so much into it. You’re most disappointed for the players,” Eberflus said. “Once that settles in then you work to the next day, the sun comes up and you move forward. You learn and you grow and you keep going. That’s what true grit is. That’s what we’re all about.”

Cowboys linebacker Jack Sanborn, one of Eberflus’ players in Chicago the last three seasons who followed him to Dallas, guessed Eberflus could be more fired up than normal internally, but he hasn’t let that show. 

“Maybe there’s a little extra on top of it, but from what it feels like it’s the same as every week: go out there and play good ball, play good defense and get a win most importantly,” Sanborn said Thursday.   

Week 3 might be just as or even more surreal for new Cowboys Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Ahead of his first matchup of the 2024 season against the Bears, Clark was the Green Bay Packers longest-tenured player (nine seasons), and he was preparing to square off against Eberflus’ squad. Now the two former NFC North rivals are teaming up to take on Chicago together in 2025. 

“Yeah, that’s crazy,” Clark said on Monday. “I’m happy I’m with ‘Flus now, and it’s just crazy how life works sometimes.”

How valuable is Eberlus Bears’ intel? 

Players and coaches change teams all the time in the NFL. Although Dallas having a notable chunk of their defensive staff follow Eberflus from Chicago gives them a little more insight than the average reunion game. Eberflus brought linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, cornerbacks coach David Overstreet and safeties coach Andre Curtis with him to the Cowboys this season. 

“He knows the players. We brought him in and had him talk to the offensive staff about the players. He has great respect for a lot of those guys that were there, but again, they’re always adjusting,” Schottenheimer said. … “So the knowledge of those guys and some of the things that they do, their strengths and weaknesses. Most of them have more strengths than weaknesses. It’s good to know that information. It helps.”

“I think that’s important to do with every opponent. Because we have several coaches that were there last year,” Eberflus said. “And he’s talking to everybody about it. Strengths, weaknesses, where we can gain an advantage. Just gathering information about different things. That to me is always important. We do that every single week if I was with a player, we ask strengths and weaknesses and have them talk to the offense or defense. That’s important.”

Both quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver George Pickens greatly appreciated hearing from Eberflus and other ex-Bears coaches throughout the week because the margins between success and failure can be razor thin week to week in the NFL. 

“I can’t give you that intel, right? Then they’re going to know everything we know. It’s definitely helpful,” Prescott said Thursday. “At the end of the day, though, right, it’s a new coordinator over there, a new system. As much as anything, maybe just about the players there and kind of their body types and the way that they play, the way they rally to the ball, play coverage, just little nuances like that.”

“Super valuable for me, because this is my first time ever playing Chicago, so super valuable,” Pickens said. “I played with some of the players that they drafted in college, but guys change every year, so super valuable.”    

Despite the buildup to the matchup, Eberflus claims he hasn’t thought of how the Soldier Field crowd will receive him when he comes out of the tunnel.  

“I haven’t thought about it.”

Prescott got to know Eberflus in his first two NFL seasons, 2016 and 2017, when the latter was Dallas’ linebackers coach. The two would regularly chat about golf and other life topics. Even if Eberflus won’t say it, his players will: Week 3 is for him. 

“That guy, I want to make sure he goes out there and gets a win,” Prescott said. “Don’t need a lot of extra motivation. I want to get a win regardless, selfishly, and for the team. I think when it happens, that will be a make sense for a game ball, or just make sure that the rest of the guys understand how great of a win it is for ‘Flus.”