FRISCO — Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus returns to the place on Sunday that expected more from him: Chicago.
Eberflus spent three years as the head coach with the Bears before his firing 12 games into the 2024 season. He enters Sunday’s game with a Cowboys’ defense that’s minus one of the best pass rushers in the business, Micah Parsons, but could debut Jadeveon Clowney, a former No. 1 overall pick, as one of his edge rushers.
But more than anything, Eberflus comes to the Windy City with a defense that’s taken heavy criticism for its pass coverage.
After Giants quarterback Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards, the second-most in his career, last week, the calls for fewer defensive assignments in zone coverage and more man-to-man have grown. It seems zone coverage is what Eberflus’ defense is all about.
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“It’s not what Flus does, we want to be multiple and we’re going to be multiple and we’re going to do different things and we play man and we play zone,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “If there’s one thing you can look at for us, we were good at both at times and we were poor at both at times.”
According to NFL’s NextGen Stats, the Cowboys play zone coverage 96.2% of the time, the highest in the NFL. Last season, under coordinator Mike Zimmer, the Cowboys were in zone coverage 70.8%, 12th in the league.
Eberflus’ defense relies on pressure up front, little blitzing and defenders in pass coverage to make plays on the ball.
It’s easy to say things are not working after watching the Giants receivers run wild in the Cowboys’ secondary. Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson combined for 309 yards and three touchdowns. The Cowboys had clear communication problems, as receivers often ran past cornerbacks with safeties arriving late to the play. Linebackers also didn’t close out on receivers in certain situations.
New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) reaches for and secures a pass in the end zone as Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) tries to punch it out during the first half of the home opener at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, September 14, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Changing the scheme isn’t happening. Cowboys’ officials are resolute in believing that the scheme works, and while there isn’t any opposition to playing man-to-man, it’s all based on the matchup.
“It’s about player availability and what you think will work against the opponent,” Eberflus said. “Certainly we have those concepts in and we’re going to use concepts that we like that fit the players and what we can execute well.”
What’s forgotten is the Cowboys shut down the Eagles’ top receiver A.J. Brown in the season opener. He was held to just one fourth-quarter catch for eight yards. Also, No. 2 wideout DeVonta Smith had just three catches for 16 yards.
The Giants game changed everything. You could view what happened as a preview on what quarterbacks and receivers might do later in the season.
“Just over-communicate honestly,” safety Malik Hooker said of how to solve the issues. “It’s just about obviously emphasizing when you got the call and passing the call off to whoever you got to communicate with on the play. So that’s all it is honestly, to me.”
The numbers related to the Cowboys’ secondary are hard to compute and look awful.
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Cornerback Kaiir Elam is credited with allowing 15 catches for 235 yards on 19 targets by NFL’s NextGen Stats. If the Cowboys play so much zone, how does one figure the proper context of these numbers?
“I don’t look at that,” Eberflus said. “Kaiir has played well. He’s tackled well, he’s done a good job and he’s going to continue to improve. I like where Kaiir is at.”
Additionally, Elam has been targeted 24.9% of the time, compared to Trevon Diggs, the other starting corner, who is targeted only 7.9% of the time.
The biggest issue with the secondary is communication. Players must talk to each other, understand their hand signals and be more aware of what’s going on.
Everyone involved believes it’s a simple fix.
“You always want to keep the ball in front of us, always,” Elam said. “Rally and tackle everything in front of us. We gotta be on the same page when it comes to taking away those post routes. It’s something that’s an easy fix. We just got to get done.”
If the Cowboys can’t solve the problems against the Bears, then Eberflus’ return will be a rough one.
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