3 reasons Matt Eberflus was drawn to Eric Washington as Chicago Bears DC

2. Eric Washington has worked exclusively for defensive head coaches

One of the biggest notes from the Chicago Bears hiring Eric Washington is that he will not call plays for the team. Matt Eberflus did a great job calling plays last year, and that has always been one of his strengths. The team wanted to keep that going. 

So, it was going to take a specific coordinator to fill a role with limited staff selection under him as well as a lack of play-calling duties. 

However, this has been something that Washington has done before. First, he got his big break in the NFL working under Lovie Smith, a defensive coach. Then, he jumped to Carolina to work under Ron Rivera, who called the defense. Washington was a defensive coordinator there and called plays at times, but he was mostly still under Rivera’s play calling.

With the Buffalo Bills, Leslie Frazier called plays, but Sean McDermott was a defensive head coach. Last year, McDermott called plays. 

Eric Washington has worked almost the entirety of his career working under a head coach who was calling the defensive plays. This is not any different, despite the bigger role.