Matt Eberflus and Cowboys raid Chicago Bears defensive staff

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."
Dennis Allen: Top 10 scoring defense 4 of his last 5 seasons
— Jordan Anderson (@j_anderson97) January 27, 2025
Ben Johnson: Top 5 scoring offense each of the last 3 seasons
Quite a combo leading the #Bears pic.twitter.com/V9oZpBdNPn
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.
Two good tackles by Elijah Hicks. This one saved a TD pic.twitter.com/z6S6pBQelO
— Barroom Net | Aldo Gandia (@BarroomNetwork) August 2, 2024
Never forget that Ryan Poles chose Matt Eberflus over Dan Quinn, at the behest of the then Bears’ shadow president Trace Armstrong.
— Spiegel & Holmes (@SpiegsAndHolmes) January 19, 2025
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.
#Cowboys newest defensive passing game coordinator Andre Curtis seems like he’ll have some fans if he has this type of energy in practice.
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) January 30, 2025
(🎥: @Seahawks on YT) pic.twitter.com/qVG1f89V7D
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