Bears Scrapbook — Ex-Bears who got revenge; Will Matt Eberflus be next?
- Mark Potash
- Sep 20
- 4 min read
Former Bears coach Matt Eberflus said, "I haven't thought about it." when asked by Cowboys beat reporters about the reaction he expects from Bears fans when he returns to Soldier Field on Sunday. And I, like many who covered the Eberflus era, believe him. Any question outside the realm of on-field football routinely stumped Eberflus as coach of the Bears.
If he did think about it, Eberflus probably would be bracing for the worst. A week ago, the Lions rudely — and strangely — treated Ben Johnson like a back-stabbing traitor when he returned to Ford Field as coach of the Bears, with fans chanting "[Bleep] Ben Johnson at the end of the game, and his former players taking particular glee in beating him.
That sure seemed like an odd way to treat a coach who was largely responsible for the Lions' surge to relevance and contention. He inherited an offense that was 25th in the NFL in scoring when he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2022, and finished fifth, fifth and first in his three seasons as OC.
Johnson even stayed a year longer than he had to. He easily could have gotten a head coaching job after the 2023 season — and his offense produced one of the most enjoyable regular seasons in Lions history (and scored 31 points in the playoff loss to the Commanders). His crime apparently was going to a division rival. Not sure if that broke some kind of NFL etiquette, but I don't think it did. It wasn't like George Allen bolting the Bears to become head coach of the Rams after the 1965 season when he was the presumed heir apparent to replace George Halas.
(The more recent comparison for Bears fans is Buddy Ryan, the architect of the "43" defense that was largely responsible for an even greater renaissance that ended with a Super Bowl XX victory after the 1985 season. Ryan, who left to become the head coach of the Eagles, didn't return to Soldier Field until the end of his third season — a playoff game that became known as the "Fog Bowl." If Bears fans treated Ryan with disdain, it was more because he was the coach of the opposing team than because he left the Bears.)
But Eberflus returning to Chicago as a coordinator is not the same, of course. This is more similar to Dick Jauron returning to Soldier Field as the Lions' defensive coordinator in the 2004 opener after being fired as the Bears head coach after the 2003 season. The Lions won 20-16, with Jauron's defense forcing four turnovers, to snap an NFL-record 24-game road losing streak.
Jauron, befitting his nature, did not try to stoke his players into revenge-game mode, but they still responded for him ("As a veteran you just know," defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson said). And he took no joy in beating the Bears ("I love the guys in the [Bears] locker room as much as I love the guys in this locker room," Jauron said after that game. "But I'm glad these guys won.")
Be that as it may, Eberflus figures to get a negative reaction when he returns to Soldier Field. But it's more likely he'll get little to no reaction than a vicious "[Bleep] Matt Eberflus" chant.
On the one hand, Bears fans never did get a chance to say "good-bye" to Eberflus. He surely was in the cross-hairs of disappointed fans at the end. But when he left Soldier Field after a 30-27 overtime loss to the Vikings on Nov. 24 (but after a valiant comeback from 11 points down in the final 1:56 of regulation), few realized that would be his last home game as coach of the Bears.
But on the other hand, Eberflus' departure led them to Johnson, the hottest candidate in the 2025 hiring cycle who as of this moment still looks like the offensive guru Caleb Williams and the Bears offense need. And with the Bears looking more like they're being coached by Eberflus and not Johnson in their first two games under the savior coach, the Bears already are providing evidence that Eberflus wasn't the Bears' only problem, or even their biggest one.
It would be quite a victory for Eberflus if his defense that has allowed averages of 30.5 points and 404 yards in their first two games, rose up to stymie Johnson's Bears offense. And it would be a great irony if the coach whose defense failed to rally for him last season, stoked some kind of emotional response in the Cowboys that led to the Bears' demise.
That's how the Bears' luck seems to be running these days. But let the record show that only one former head coach has returned to Chicago and won — and that is none other than Mike Ditka, whose 1-4 Saints in 1997 beat the 0-5 Bears 20-17 on Sunday Night Football at Soldier Field.
Two years later, Ditka was the culprit in a 14-10 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field — joining Jack Pardee as coaches to lose to the Bears 14-10 — the same score of the 1963 NFL Championship Game, when the Halas' Bears beat the Giants at Soldier Field.
In all, former Bears head coaches are 6-10 against the Bears (2-6 at Soldier Field). Here's the list:
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