The Chicago Bears picked up a win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, which was made better by the revenge exacted on former head coach Matt Eberflus. Eberflus’s reign of terror concluded shortly after last Thanksgiving, but he remains a villain in the 2025 Bears’ origin story as he failed to cultivate quarterback Caleb Williams' talent.
Williams and Bears fans got their revenge on Sunday when the former No. 1 overall pick threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns against Eberflus’s defense in a 31-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys. But while Eberflus’s seat grew hotter after three games as Dallas’s defensive coordinator, he was embarrassed again when Williams was named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, according to ESPN's Courtney Cronin.
Matt Eberflus Made Caleb Williams Look Like a Star in Bears' Win vs. Cowboys
Eberflus was always supposed to be the coach who brought out the best in Williams, but this probably isn’t the way he thought it would go down. The ex-Chicago HC dragged the Bears through a 10-24 record in his first two seasons to land Williams with the first pick in the 2024 draft, only to damage the QB's outlook by hiring then-offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Waldron and Williams never clicked before Waldron was fired on Nov. 12, and Eberflus followed him out the door a few weeks later. Comments from Williams’s father in Seth Wickersham’s Book American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback poured more gas on the fire, and Williams probably had a little extra incentive to light up Eberflus’s defense on Sunday afternoon.
It started early with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze on Chicago’s opening drive and added some insult to injury with a 65-yard flea flicker to Luther Burden III with 4:10 left in the first quarter. While the Cowboys tied the game at 14-14 midway through the second quarter, Williams responded with a drive that led to a Cairo Santos field goal before tossing touchdown passes to Cole Kmet and DJ Moore to seal the victory.
It’s part of a strong start to the year for Williams, who has completed 63.4% of his passes for 715 yards, seven touchdowns, and one interception over the first three games. Williams will still need to play at the same level to make sure Sunday’s game wasn’t a fluke. But if he does, it could add another layer of embarrassment for Eberflus as he struggles to find success down south.