Matt Eberflus and Cowboys raid Chicago Bears defensive staff

Once former Bears coach Matt Eberflus became Cowboys coach it seemed inevitable some Chicago assistants would follow their old boss to the Big D and two have.
Matt Eberflus brought in two of his former assistants, meaning the Bears will be looking for more defensive coaches.
Matt Eberflus brought in two of his former assistants, meaning the Bears will be looking for more defensive coaches. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Bears had a head start on many teams looking to reorganize coaching staffs after their relatively early hiring of head coach Ben Johnson.

However, outside influences can waylay the best of plans and now they're looking to hire two more positions on the defensive staff.

Matt Eberflus' hiring in Dallas led to the loss of safeties coach Andre Curtis and linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi. The Cowboys announced the hirings of two assistants from the Bears.

It should have been expected once Eberflus was hired but the Bears still had the two listed on their own staff as recently as Thursday morning. Both came to Chicago with Eberflus at the start of his regime, Curtis from Seattle and Borgonzi from Eberflus' own Indianapolis staff.

Late in the 2024 season Eberflus said "...Andre Curtis is the best safeties coach in the league. He's proven that, being able to put guys in and plug guys here and develop guys."

The Bears had to use backups Elijah Hicks and Jonathan Owens at safety as starters last year for over half the season due to Jaquan Brisker's concussion.

Hicks played well enough on 356 defensive snaps that Pro Football Focus graded him the 26th best safety out of 98 graded, one spot behind Bears starter Kevin Byard.

It's possible the linebackers' roles will change somewhat now in a new scheme, just like the safeties. Dennis Allen's scheme has always been very reliant on interchangeable safeties and secondary disguise.

The linebackers tended to attack more often than they did in Eberflus' scheme.

The defensive side already has hired former Cowboys assistant and Packers player Al Harris as the defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator.

The team still has listed Travis Smith as defensive line coach.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher 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.