It has not been a banner return to Dallas for Matt Eberflus, as the Dallas Cowboys have arguably the worst defense in the NFL under Eberflus' tutelage. While the front office saddled him with an uninspiring roster, Eberflus hasn't made the most of the cards he was dealt.
To make matters worse for Eberflus, his former team -- the Chicago Bears -- improved to 6-3 on the season following their comeback victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.
While Caleb Williams still has a lot to improve on, he looks like a completely different quarterback under new head coach Ben Johnson relative to Eberflus. After the Bears' big win, Williams spoke about Johnson in a way that he never did about Chicago's former head coach.
"I would say the belief within the guys but also the coaches … having Ben has been big for me," Williams said in an interview with NBC's Chris Simms. "The information he provides, the help that he provides … I feel like we’re a two-punch tandem, two peas in a pod."
Bears QB Caleb Williams embarrassed Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus without even realizing it
Williams is still a volatile QB, but his progression compared to his rookie season is night and day. That can be attributed to Johnson coaching him up in a key area that Eberflus failed to do.
"Make explosives (plays) when they’re there and when they’re not, go get the nasty yards and keep us on track," Williams said about Johnson's mentality when the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders.
Williams had a bad habit as a rookie of trying to be Superman on every snap. He seldom slowed down and took what the defense gave him, whether it be a scramble or a pass short of the sticks. Under Johnson, Williams is slowly cutting that out of his game.
It's a tough look for Eberflus, but the Cowboys should be a much better defensive team coming out of the bye.
RELATED:Cowboys' failed Matt Eberflus project now has perfect excuse to come to an end
The trade deadline additions of Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson should help in a big way, but the Cowboys will also welcome back star linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and rookie cornerback Shavon Revel. Both players are expected to make their season debuts in Week 11.
With Donovan Ezeiruaku and Jadeveon Clowney fresh off logging the most snaps of Dallas’ defensive ends in Week 9, Matt Eberflus could start six new players coming out of the bye. While that won’t be enough to fix the defense, the second half of the season could get interesting if those changes spark real improvement.
The jury is still out on whether Matt Eberflus will put those players in a position to do that. And it remains to be seen if Eberflus has lost the locker room.
It's no secret that happened in Chicago last season before the Bears fired him. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.