Matt Eberflus rejoins Dallas, where he'll try to fix a defense that has underperformed because of injuries.
Matt Eberflus has landed on his feet with a new gig.
The
Dallas Cowboys announced Tuesday that Eberflus had been added to the coaching staff as defensive coordinator. Eberflus washed out of the Chicago Bears after three seasons as the head coach. He rejoins the Cowboys after previously serving as linebackers coach and passing game coordinator in the early 2010s. He will lead a loaded defense that struggled with injuries and underperformed in 2024.
Veteran cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who played under Eberflus as a rookie in 2017, praised the new hire. “[He runs] a vision defense that’s going to run to the ball and tackle,” Lewis said in a statement on the Cowboys’
official website. “The front four are going to attack! I [love the reunion].”
After playing linebacker at the University of Toledo, Eberflus started his coaching career at his alma mater as a student assistant, then a graduate assistant. He coached outside linebackers and defensive backs before joining the staff at the University of Missouri as defensive coordinator from 2001-2008. He made the jump to the NFL in 2009 as linebackers coach of the Cleveland Browns. He joined the Cowboys for the first time in 2011 as linebackers coach, and added passing game coordinator to his resumé in 2016. He became defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts in 2018, then head coach of the Bears in 2022.
Eberflus’s
defenses were regularly in the top half of the league in performance. His defense in Indianapolis ranked 11th in total yards allowed in 2018 and eighth in 2020. His 2023 defense with the Bears was 12th in yards allowed. His Indy defenses ranked top-10 three times: 10th in 2018 and 2020, and 9th in 2021. In 2024, his Bears defense ranked 13th in points allowed. His defenses have always been opportunistic with takeaways. The Colts ranked 10th in takeaways in 2018 and 2019; fifth in 2020 and second in 2021. Even in Chicago, the defense ranked in the top half in takeaways: 14th in 2022; fifth in 2023, and 10th in 2024. He also posted five top-10 ranked rushing defenses in yards allowed and four in touchdowns allowed. Passing defense was his Achilles’s heel: He never led a defense that ranked in the top half of the league in passing yards allowed. He had just three seasons with top-10 rankings in touchdowns allowed, though his 2024 defense led the league in touchdowns allowed.
Eberflus struggled as head coach of the Bears, accruing a record of just 14-32 before being unceremoniously fired in November for his disastrous clock management, which cost the Bears the game against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
Eberflus will lead a defense that is loaded with talent. Linebacker Micah Parsons is a perennial superstar; his fellow linebacker Eric Kendricks is a former All-Pro. In the defensive backfield, the team is led by DaRon Bland, who holds the NFL single-season record for interceptions returned for touchdowns; Lewis; and Trevon Diggs, a former two-time Pro Bowler and NFL leader in interceptions. Defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence is a four-time Pro Bowler.
The Cowboys’ hiring of Eberflus means the end of
Mike Zimmer’s tenure as defensive signal caller. Zimmer told Cowboys beat reporter Ed Werder he would not return to new head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s staff and would likely retire. Zimmer led the Cowboys defense in 2024 after Dan Quinn left to become head coach of the Washington Commanders. The Cowboys struggled to keep their defensive stars on the field all season due to injuries and as a result
ranked 28th in the league in total defense.
Eberflus’s interim replacement, Thomas Brown, also landed on his feet. The
Boston Globe reported that Brown would join the staff of the New England Patriots as tight ends coach and offensive passing game coordinator. Brown previously served as the Bears’ passing game coordinator before being promoted to interim offensive coordinator after the Bears fired Shane Waldron, then interim head coach after Eberflus was fired.
