Matt Eberflus finally unlocks Caleb Williams' potential as Bears QB torches ex-coach's Cowboys defense

CHICAGO --  Much of the talk entering the Dallas Cowboys' Week 3 matchup at the Chicago Bears revolved around how Dallas defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the Bears ex-head coach (2022-2024), would fare against his former quarterback Caleb Williams and his successor Ben Johnson. 

Williams and Johnson clearly got the last laugh over Eberflus' Cowboys defense in a 31-14 Chicago victory, the Bears' first win of 2025. Williams shredded Eberflus' zone-heavy scheme, tying his career high for passing touchdowns (four) to go along with 298 yards through the air on 19 of 28 passing. Per CBS Sports Research, Williams in Week 3 against the Cowboys became the first player with multiple 30-yard passing touchdowns in the first quarter of a game since Patrick Mahomes at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 season.

"Those big plays, on either side, will eventually take the heart out of you when you get a bunch of them," Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said postgame. "I will tell you I thought a lot of our team really hung in there getting hit on the end of the nose with some pretty big haymakers there. Those are what we call dominant plays over 20 yards. Those will take it out of you."

"We got to eliminate the big plays. We got to get stops, get off the field on third down. That's pretty much it," Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs said postgame. "Rush the quarterback. Do the things that we've been doing in the past and just get it right."

No drive encapsulated Dallas' defensive issues more than Chicago's first offensive possession of the second half. The Bears marched down the field on a 19-play, 76-yard drive that ate up nearly 10 minutes (9:54) in the third quarter, and they capped the drive with Williams' fourth touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal from the 4. On Williams' scoring strike, wide receiver DJ Moore snuck back behind Dallas' zone coverage, and the 2024 No. 1 overall pick quarterback's scrambling caused Cowboys linebacker Damone Clark to get out of position. That allowed Williams to hit Moore for a wide-open touchdown smack dab in the middle of the end zone. Dallas' defense was out of gas at that point after Chicago had run the football on 11 consecutive plays.

"They did a good job of making that 19 play-drive just after having the big play first half. Came back out and just grounded out for a touchdown. It's disheartening," Jones said.

"Yeah, it's tough. We got to find a way to get off the field. Teams get worn down the more plays they get," Cowboys defensive tackle Kenny Clark said postgame. "We just have to do a better job with that, and it's just locking in with film. Playing fast, understanding what you're going to get and just holding each other accountable."

Both New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson (17-for-37, 168 yards passing in a 21-6 loss at the Washington Commanders and Williams (417 yards passing, three passing touchdowns and an interception with a 61.5% completion percentage through an 0-2 start) entered their matchups with Eberflus' Cowboys defense experiencing relative struggles. Dallas' defense worked as both of their respective slump busters the last two weeks. An explosive pass play is defined as a pass of over 20 yards. The Cowboys allowed seven against Wilson last week and five more against Williams in Week 3. 

The issues are clear. Without All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons, Dallas isn't generating pressure on opposing quarterbacks (29.9% quarterback pressure rate, 25th in the NFL entering "Monday Night Football"). That's why Dallas has struggled to play the "Dallas Cowboys defense" that helped power them to three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021 to 2023.

"I think it's compromised with our four-man front up there today," Jones said. We want to try and get in this defense with that four-man rush. We weren't getting there plus we weren't covering. That's a bad combination. That's what happened to us out there today."

"Yeah, it's definitely a challenge facing mobile quarterbacks. Like I said, we just got to just all come together," Diggs said. "DBs have to cover better. We got to get to the quarterback. We just got to play defense. We got to play Dallas Cowboys defense that we've been playing and do what we do."

"It's just all of us doing our job and just containing, rushing together as one," Clark said. "Just understanding where he [Williams] could spill out at. We knew he was going to be elusive in the pocket, and at the end of the day, we got to just do better and do our job."

One of the things Jones mentioned after trading Parsons to the Green Bay Packers ahead of the season was that Eberflus could scheme up pressure. Thus far, he's blitzed on under 20% of opponent dropbacks (19.6%), the sixth-lowest in the NFL entering the Week 3 addition of "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football."

"Of course, if we can't cover them there's not one thing to do except try to rush them up," Jones said. "We've got to get better. We've got to get more on the [same] page. I'm confident we will. This is inordinate to have that many big plays."

Diggs admitted the Cowboys defenders are still adjusting to what Eberflus is now asking them to do in 2025.

"I feel like every week it's something new that you see until you see everything," Diggs said. "Then, it's like 'alright, this is all they got.' We just got to get adjusted to it. … We got to eliminate all the big plays. … We're going to get it right. I have faith in all these guys."

* Weeks 1, 2 and 3 entering "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football"

The lack of cornerback depth is also too much to overcome. Letting longtime nickel corner Jourdan Lewis walk on over to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency (three-year deal worth $30 million with $20 million guaranteed) appears to be a critical error early on. Schottenheimer said earlier in the week that the nickel corner spot has a lot of communication responsibility in Eberflus' defense, and second-year undrafted free agent Reddy Steward being in that with cornerback DaRon Bland (foot) out isn't good enough. Despite Schottenheimer saying earlier in the week that two-time Pro Bowler Trevon Diggs didn't have any more restrictions, his knee clearly isn't 100% healthy. He slipped on Williams' first touchdown pass of the afternoon, a 35-yarder deep down the left sideline on a vertical route to Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze. 

"I slipped. Jammed, and then I turned around, and I slipped into a bad position," Diggs said. "Nothing [to do with the knee injury] at all. I just slipped, lost my footing. My knee was cool."

Both Cowboys cornerback Kaiir Elam and Eberflus disputed the validity of the passing yards against statistic by NFL Pro insights that had Elam labeled as the league's most porous corner with 232 yards allowed in coverage entering Week 3. However, that figure is clearly a byproduct of a slow start, and what was described as miscommunication last week and a lack of execution between all parties involved in Dallas' secondary. 

"I feel like this week it was execution," Diggs said. "We got the calls, and executing, we gave up some big plays in the beginning of the game. From there, I feel like it was just a snowball effect, but we're going to get back in the lab, get back in the meeting room, study, figure out what we did well and just focus on the next game."

Eberflus' task doesn't get any easier next week: he'll be tasked with slowing down a Green Bay Packers offense that lit up Dallas for over 40 points in a 48-32 wild card round defeat in the 2023 postseason. Packers quarterback Jordan Love is coming off a rough start in a stunning 13-10 road loss at the Cleveland Browns in Week 3, but he's had his way with Eberflus' when the two battled in the NFC North from 2022-2024. Love's Packers beat Eberflus' Bears in all three meetings, and he lit up his Chicago defense, throwing for 274 yards per game, 6 touchdown passes and one interception while completing 72.4% of his passes. That was good for a sparkling 128.3 passer rating. 

Week 3 against the Chicago Bears was rough, but Week 4 against Love, Parsons and the Packers on "Sunday Night Football" could be worse for Eberflus and Co.