The 2025 NFL regular season is finally here, as the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys match up on Thursday to start the season.
The Chicago Bears then host the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football to wrap up Week 1. The Bears hired Ben Johnson to be their next head coach as they fired Matt Eberflus last November.
He went on to become the Dallas Cowboys' defensive coordinator, but he just had to watch the Cowboys trade away star defender Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.
And that has to be deja vu for Eberflus, as he had to watch Khalil Mack get traded away before he had a chance to coach him.
Matt Eberflus Wasn’t Able to Coach Khalil Mack or Micah Parsons
Eberflus was hired to be the Bears' head coach in Jan. 2022, and the Bears shipped Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers in March 2022 in exchange for a second- and sixth-round pick.
Following the trade, Eberflus backed the organizational move, saying, "We just thought what was best for the organization going forward, looking at the whole piece of it, the contract, looking at everything going forward for us, for the club, it was the best move for us. We all signed off on it. It'll be good for us in the long run."
While his statements make it seem like he was cool with the move, it was more likely Ryan Poles' decision, and Eberflus had to just back the decision.
In 53 career games with the Bears, Mack had 163 total tackles, 52 QB hits, 36 sacks, and 11 forced fumbles. He was an All-Pro player during this time, so why would he want him gone? Fast forward four years later and he's experiencing the same thing with Parsons.
Again, Eberflus is making it sound like he's happy that an All-Pro game wrecker is gone. On Monday, he said, "Congratulations to Micah. We wish him the best. We’re gonna focus on us. Obviously really good player. We have a lot of good rushers in the D-line room. Certainly we’ll generate with that and other things too.”
He wants to make it seem like it's cool to lose a caliber player of Parsons, but it has to sting. He was the best player on their defense, and Eberflus was certainly building his unit around No. 11. Over four seasons with the Cowboys, Parsons supplied 52.5 sacks and was one of the best pass rushers in the league.
Not having a true force off the edge takes away from the potential of Dallas' defense. Eberflus knows that, but is putting on a strong face. The same way he did in Chicago.