Just two days after the seasons end, the Dallas Cowboys will be making a change at defensive coordinator in 2026, after the team officially parted ways with Matt Eberflus on Tuesday, sources confirmed to DLLS.
Statement from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Having known Matt Eberflus for decades now, we have tremendous respect and appreciation for him as a coach and a person. After reviewing and discussing the results of our defensive performance this season, though, it was clear that change is needed. This is the first step in that process, and we will continue that review as it applies to reaching our much higher expectations.”
Eberflus was hired last January after Mike Zimmer, the team’s defensive coordinator in 2024, didn’t return for the 2025 season.
Eberflus came to Dallas after a three-year run as the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2022 to 2024. The 2025 season also marked his second stint with the Cowboys, as he previously served as the team’s linebackers coach from 2011 to 2017.
The veteran coach’s unit was at the center of Dallas’ problems all season.
Dallas, following a 7-9-1 record in 2025, finished the year ranked 30th overall on defense, 32nd against the pass, 20th against the run, and they allowed the most points in the league at 29.8 per game. They also ranked 31st in the red zone and 30th on third down.
It all capped off, with the unit becoming the first defense in Cowboys franchise history to give up 500 points in a season.
“Ultimately, you point your finger right back at you, the guy who hired Matt Eberflus,” owner Jerry Jones said earlier in the season. “My point is, the whole thing is really easy to sit here and say, ‘You could have done things differently.’ But that goes with the territory. And anytime you [are the one that makes] the ultimate decision, then you’ve got to look at that, and weigh it.”
Eberflus, in his final presser of the year on January 1st, admitted things changed for defense when they lost an all pro pass rusher who can win quick, referring to Micah Parsons who Jones traded away to the Green Bay Packers, seven days prior to the start of the 2025 regular season.
The trade of Parsons coupled with free agent signings on defense that struggled throughout the season were evident in the units poor play.
“Don’t blame this all on [Matt Eberflus],” Jones said. “This took five or six years to get here. This is a product of several years of combinations of philosophies. A lot of people in that sense, and you can broaden who has influenced where we are the most. But I can make a case for you that we haven’t had satisfactory defense for five or six years.”
Nevertheless, Dallas’s next defensive coordinator hire will be its fifth of the decade, and Eberflus becomes the third one-and-done at the position in that span.
