LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WGN) — Off to an 0-2 start to 2025, Week 3 features the return of Matt Eberflus as the Chicago Bears welcome Ben Johnson’s predecessor and the Dallas Cowboys to Soldier Field in search of their first victory of the season.
“We got to be on our stuff this week to know who we have schematically,” Johnson said Wednesday. “But we also got to play with good pad level. We got to play with good finish, and we got to combat their swarm to the football mentality with population to the ball ourselves.”
Before Eberflus became the first Bears head coach to be axed from the position midseason, his Chicago defenses brought unique challenges with them. It was something Johnson was keen to point out on Wednesday at Halas Hall.
“You could tell what those players are being coached technique-wise, it shows up on gameday in terms of shedding blocks and rallying to the football, [which] carried over here for three seasons,” Johnson said. “Make no mistake about it, it was one of the more challenging defenses that we faced when I was in Detroit. We struggled to run the ball at times. [They had] a really good red zone defense.”
Under Eberflus, the Bears were well known (at certain points) for what he referenced—run defense and getting stops in the red zone—though Detroit still largely found success against Chicago in those two departments.
Overall, the Lions were 4-1 in the five games Eberflus faced Detroit as the Bears’ head coach. They scored on 19 of their 20 red zone possessions (14 touchdowns, five field goals) against Chicago during that timeframe.
The Bears were putrid in 2022, allowing teams to run all over them to the tune of 157.3 yards per game (31st in the NFL) and score touchdowns in the red zone 64.52% of the time (27th). But they arguably had their best game of that season on run defense against the Lions.
On Nov. 13, 2022, some Chicago fans may remember the 31-30 loss the Bears endured after Cairo Santos missed an extra point in the fourth quarter at Soldier Field, but it was also a game where Chicago held Detroit to 95 yards on 31 attempts—a clip of just 3.1 yards per carry.
That narrative didn’t carry over to Detroit, though. The Lions handed the Bears a 41-10 defeat behind a ground game that notched 39 attempts for 265 yards and two touchdowns six weeks later.
In 2023, Chicago posted the No. 1 rush defense in the NFL, but finished 31st in opponent red zone scoring percentage. The Bears gave up just 86.4 yards per game on the ground, but allowed opponents to score touchdowns 68.89% of the time they reached the red zone. That included an NFL-high 78.57% of the time when they were at Soldier Field.
Eberflus notched his one and only victory against Detroit that season. After a Week 11 implosion that saw Chicago give up 17 unanswered points in the last three minutes of a 26-31 loss at Ford Field, the Bears handed the Lions their most lopsided NFC conference loss of the year.
Chicago walked away with a 28-13 victory on Dec. 10, 2023, in a contest that featured the lone possession where they held Detroit without points in the red zone (a second-quarter interception), on top of two more turnovers and four sacks of Jared Goff.
The script on the Bears’ defense flipped in 2024. Chicago gave up the sixth-most rush yards per game (136.3), while having the NFL’s third-best opponent red zone touchdown scoring percentage (46.03%). Last season also featured the straw that broke the camel’s back when it came to Eberflus’s tenure with the Bears—the Thanksgiving Day debacle, where late-game clock management cost Chicago a 23-20 defeat at the hands of the Lions.
“I think we’re at a point where we’re past that. It was good being able to become a Chicago Bear. He made that decision,” Williams said of reflecting on Eberflus as his head coach. “[I’m] happy to be here, and our time together wasn’t wasted. We didn’t win as much as we wanted, but we’re past that, and we’re focused on trying to be 1-0 this week.”
Williams said preparing for Eberflus and the Cowboys’ defense is “the same as preparing each week” and “every game is a chess match,” even when he’s not facing his former head coach.
“I’ve played a bunch of ball versus that defense and how he runs [it],” Williams said. “It’s interesting in a way. You know, Matt was my coach last year. So, just being able to move past all of that and be able to go out there and help the Chicago Bears be 1-0 this week [is what’s important].”
Eberflus’s defense has given up the third-most pass yards of any team this season (602), as well as the second-worst opponent pass completion percentage (76.6%) behind only the Miami Dolphins (78.8%).
While the Bears’ 31-point loss last week seemed deflating, the former USC Trojan did show improvement from the season opener, though some may be quick to put part of the onus on Williams (he did throw an egregious interception on second-and-32).
His average time-to-throw was sub-three seconds (2.96), while also averaging an aggressive 10.1 air yards per attempt against the Lions. It’s numbers like those that help show he was playing within the structure of Johnson’s offense, e.g., hitting check downs when needed, making throws in rhythm from the pocket, and taking the occasional shot downfield.
“That’s kind of what playing point guard is. The defense throws a bunch of stuff at you and [you have] to just decipher what it is,” Williams said. “Maybe we check it down [and] it goes for four yards to keep us ahead of the sticks, or it’s being able to find, maybe, a deep throw and throw the dagger in there and go make big plays for the Chicago Bears.
“I think it’s a constant chess match throughout each week.”
Against the run, Dallas has given up the tenth-most rush yards (242), while also posting the second-worst rushing first down percentage (33.9%). They have also surrendered the second-most rushing first downs (20) and are in a three-way tie with the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers for most touchdown runs surrendered (4).
Numbers like that suggest a breakout day could be on the horizon for Williams and Chicago’s offense. Johnson seems prepared to do just that, though scoring points in the NFL is easier said than done, as evidenced by the Bears’ performance in Weeks 1 and 2.
“We got guys in the building that know how [Eberflus’s] mind works,” Johnson said. “So, we had some information, just schematically, how he liked to approach my offense in general and his feelings on Caleb. I feel like we know what he knows and we’ll be just fine.”
What Johnson and Williams know is that Williams needs to continue putting in the work when it comes to his feet and eyes. Then with reps, he’ll eventually get to a point where it isn’t about remembering mechanics and the process. He’ll know it innately and begin to “manipulate the defense.”
“At some point you worry less about ‘What’s my footwork’, less about, ‘Where do I need to be’, ‘Who am I keying’, ‘Where do I need to set for this,’” Johnson said. “Now, you’re looking to manipulate the defense a little bit more. ‘How can I look one guy off to create a void to throw the ball into’ and things of that nature. We talk about those things, but you’ve got to do it a lot.
“You might fail a few times and you learn from that and you do it better the next time. We’re in that process right now. [Williams] took a big step from Week 1 to Week 2. I’m really expecting him to do the same thing [from] Week 2 to Week 3. But the fact of the matter is, we’re not going to go Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, all the way through 17, just like that.
“We’re going to have some hiccups along the way, and I’m aware of that. His approach to the game right now is what it needs to be. He’s coming in, he’s doing the work. Eventually, these results will start speaking for themselves, but as long as he puts the work in like he’s been doing, we’re going to be okay.”