{"id":35403,"date":"2025-02-19T12:25:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=35403"},"modified":"2025-02-19T12:25:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:25:04","slug":"matt-eberflus-jumps-right-back-in-turns-back-the-clock-with-dallas-cowboys-after-losing-chicago-bears-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=35403","title":{"rendered":"Matt Eberflus jumps right back in, turns back the clock with Dallas Cowboys after losing Chicago Bears job"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FRISCO, Texas \u2014 New Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus never really stopped to consider a year away from coaching after getting fired by the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n

Not that his wife, Kelly, would have let him.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said she wanted me to go to work now,\u201d Eberflus said Tuesday in his first meeting with reporters since getting hired by the Cowboys. \u201cAnd I did, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old Eberflus is back where his career took off. He had a seven-year stint on the Dallas defensive staff \u2014 from 2011-17 \u2014 that led to the defensive coordinator\u2019s job with Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Four years later, Eberflus took over the Bears, getting fired 12 games into his third season, the day after his poor clock management in the final seconds cost Chicago a sixth consecutive loss. He was 14-32 with the Bears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited after a couple of days, a couple of weeks, taking that break,\u201d Eberflus said. \u201cI was excited about looking at different opportunities, and this was the best opportunity, that I felt was really cool for me to come back to Dallas. I have a lot of familiar faces here, starting from the top all the way to everybody in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

A first-time NFL head coach with the Bears, Eberflus is now under someone in the same situation, with longtime assistant Brian Schottenheimer taking over for Mike McCarthy.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys and McCarthy parted ways after five more seasons of Dallas not getting as far as an NFC championship game. The drought goes all the way back to the 1995 season when the storied franchise won its fifth Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Matt Eberflus\u2019 Chicago Bears timeline: 32 losses, multiple coach firings and too many late-game missteps<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eberflus lived it. The Dallas defense couldn\u2019t get a stop late in a divisional playoff loss at Green Bay during the 2014 season, and gave up an improbable \u2014 and decisive \u2014 third-down completion to Aaron Rodgers in the final seconds of another divisional loss to the Packers, this time at home, when the Cowboys were the NFC\u2019s top seed in 2016.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019ll try to help Schottenheimer end it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first couple meetings I had with him, I said, \u2018I\u2019m here for you,\u2019\u201d Eberflus said. \u201cI want to really just do a good job of bouncing ideas off of (him), experiences that I had and just working together to be able to utilize me. Because I do have the experience of being a head coach for him and to make his job easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eberflus has four assistants from last season\u2019s Bears staff: defensive passing game coordinator Andre Curtis, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, secondary\/cornerbacks coach David Overstreet II and defensive line assistant Bryan Bing.<\/p>\n

Darian Thompson, a former Cowboys player, is the only holdover on the defensive staff. He is helping Overstreet in the secondary after working with linebackers his first two seasons. The other newcomers are defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton and young assistants J.J. Clark and Tanzel Smart.<\/p>\n

The only returning member of the offensive staff is Lunda Wells, who will coach tight ends after having that role for all five of McCarthy\u2019s seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good,\u201d Wells said. \u201cJust make sure you get the names right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator for the past two seasons with McCarthy calling plays, and the arrangement will be the same with Schottenheimer\u2019s replacement, Klayton Adams.<\/p>\n

The offensive line coach for the Arizona Cardinals the past two seasons, Adams was on the Colts\u2019 staff with Eberflus. His first priority in his first year as a coordinator is helping improve one of the league\u2019s worst rushing offenses. The question of whether he\u2019d eventually like to be a play-caller can come later.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, our job when we\u2019re putting things on the call sheet is to be problem-solvers,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThat\u2019s the part that I\u2019m really looking forward to focusing on. It\u2019s also a leadership position within a great organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells and pass game specialist Ken Dorsey are the most experienced coaches on the offensive staff. Dorsey has had a rough couple of years, getting fired midseason as offensive coordinator in Buffalo in 2023 and again after this past season from the same job in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be able to win football games, and when you don\u2019t then there\u2019s always those possibilities of things happening,\u201d Dorsey said. \u201cIn life, you\u2019re going to get knocked down. You\u2019re going to get punched in the gut. It\u2019s how you get back up and keep swinging, keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eberflus can relate, and now they\u2019re on a staff together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus never really stopped to consider a year away from coaching after getting fired by the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":35404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[445,54,156,997,9],"class_list":["post-35403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-chicago-bears","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-football","tag-matt-eberflus","tag-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nMatt Eberflus jumps right back in, turns back the clock with Dallas Cowboys after losing Chicago Bears job - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=35403\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matt Eberflus jumps right back in, turns back the clock with Dallas Cowboys after losing Chicago Bears job - 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