Matt Eberflus

Matthew Charles Eberflus (born May 17, 1970) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL).

Eberflus was born on May 17, 1970, and attended Whitmer High School in Toledo, Ohio, where he graduated in 1988 after helping lead the team to the state semifinals in 1987.

Eberflus was a four-year letterman and a three-year starting linebacker at Toledo from 1988 to 1991 under three coaches: Dan Simrell, Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel.

Eberflus earned First Team All-MAC honors as a junior and again as a senior, leading the team in tackles both years.

As a junior, Eberflus helped lead the Rockets to a 9–2 record and a MAC co-championship.

As a team captain his senior year, Eberflus was chosen for the Nicholson Award as the team's Most Valuable Player.

His 21 tackles against Northern Illinois University that year ranks as the fifth-best performance by a Toledo player in a single game in school history.

Throughout his time at Toledo, Eberflus racked up 325 tackles, including a team-best 89 tackles as a junior and 138 tackles as a senior.

He served as a student assistant coach in 1992 under Gary Pinkel, then as a graduate assistant in 1993 before landing a full-time spot in 1994 as recruiting coordinator/outside linebackers coach when defensive coordinator Dean Pees left for Notre Dame.

For his last two years at Toledo, Eberflus coached defensive backs.

Eberflus earned his degree in education from Toledo in 1993 and was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.

As a walk-on who willed his way to all-league honors, former Rockets coach Dan Simrell called Eberflus "as intense of a player as I've ever coached. He made himself great."

Eberflus spent the first nine years of his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Toledo.

When Gary Pinkel was named head coach at the University of Missouri (at Columbia) in 2001, he brought Eberflus with him as his defensive coordinator, where he also coached defensive backs.

In 2003, Eberflus helped the Tigers reach the Independence Bowl - Mizzou's first bowl game in five seasons.

The following year, the Tigers' pass defense ranked third in the country, and the team ranked second in the Big 12 in total defense.

In 2006, Eberflus was also given the associate head coach title.

Building on his success, Eberflus guided the Tigers defense to the Big 12 North Division title in 2007 and 2008, compiling a 22–6 record over that span.

During the 2007 season, Eberflus was twice recognized as the national defensive coordinator of the week, and capped the season off by holding the Arkansas Razorbacks to just seven points in a 35-7 Cotton Bowl victory.

In the spring, Rivals.com recognized Eberflus as the eighth-best defensive coach in the nation.

Eberflus proved as big an asset as a recruiter as he did as a defensive tactician, recruiting four-year starting quarterback Brad Smith, defensive back William Moore, and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon to Columbia.

Smith, after becoming just the second player in Division I-A football history to ever pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season, among numerous collegiate honors, he would go on to be drafted by the New York Jets and enjoy an eight-year career as an NFL wide receiver.

Under Eberflus' tutelage, Moore was named a First-Team All American (2007) and Second-Team All-Big 12 (2007), and would be drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons, where he would become a Pro Bowl safety (2012).

Weatherspoon became a three-time First Team All-Big 12 player (2007, 2008, 2009) and Third Team All-American (2008) under Eberflus before being drafted in the 1st Round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

In 2009, Eberflus left Missouri for the NFL, where he was hired as linebackers coach for the Cleveland Browns, and worked under head coach Eric Mangini and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan for two seasons.

In his first season, Eberflus guided a unit through a solid season despite the loss of both starting inside linebackers to injury by midseason.

Eberflus transitioned David Bowens from outside linebacker to inside, where he finished with a career-high 71 tackles (47 solo) and 5.5 sacks.

In 2010, four starters in Eberflus' unit finished in the top-10 on the team in tackles.

In his seven seasons as a full-time coach, Toledo achieved a winning record in each season, compiling a 56-22-2 record throughout Eberflus' tenure, including an 11-0-1 finish in 1995 and a 10-1 finish in 2000.

In 2011, Eberflus followed Rob Ryan to the Dallas Cowboys, joining the staff of head coach Jason Garrett as the Linebacker Coach.

The linebacker group was spearheaded at the time by All-Pro DeMarcus Ware.

In Eberflus' first season, Ware registered 19.5 sacks, good for second in the NFC and the NFL and tops amongst all linebackers in the NFL en route to his sixth consecutive selection as a Pro Bowl starter.

Eberflus also helped with the continued development of second-year linebacker Sean Lee, who lead the team with 131 tackles (91 solo) and tied for the team-lead with four interceptions, the most by any NFL linebacker in 2011.

Eberflus' linebacker unit produced five of Dallas' top-10 tacklers and three of the top-five.

In 2012, Eberflus guided DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer to Pro Bowl selections.

The duo became the fifth in team history to reach double-digit sacks, Ware with 11.5 and Spencer with 11, the latter a career-high.

Spencer also led the team with a career-best 106 tackles, while Ware finished with 72 tackles, a team-best 33 pressures and five forced fumbles.

In week 2 at Seattle, Sean Lee posted a then career-high 21 tackles, which tied Lee Roy Jordan for the most tackles in a game in franchise history.

He previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts from 2018 to 2021.

He previously worked as the linebacker coach for the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys, and has coached at Toledo and Missouri.