Matt Eberflus comes calling after learning hardcoaching lessons in Chicago

"I'm always grateful and have much gratitude for my whole coaching career," Eberflus said of his Chicago years. "You know, so you always look back at everything, how you can learn, how you can grow and get better and improve.

"That's the biggest part of experience."

One way Chicagoans would say he could have grown when he left would be to learn to call timeouts properly, but as defensive coordinator he doesn't need to be concerned about this now.

Eberflus isn't giving out anything on the game plans but did say coach Brian Schottenheimer has talked to him about the Bears players he knows who are on the team in terms of scouting.

"I think that's important to do with every opponent because we have several coaches that were there last year and he's talking to everybody about it—strengths, weaknesses, where we can gain an advantage and just gathering information about different things."

Ebrflus' defensive staff includes linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, secondary coach David Overstreet, defensive passing game coordinator Andre Curtis and assistant defensive line coach Bryan Bing. They also have former Bears special teams assistant Carlos Polk.

Of more importance is the group of players Eberflus is handling now and he's excited about a new pass rusher. Jadeveon Clowney will play this week after signing and his snaps could be limited.

His reaction to the signing: "So if you say those two words, say pass rusher, I say yes."

It's not something Bears fans like hearing because of the reluctance of GM Ryan Poles to wade into the edge rush free agent market but they're also happy about Clowney's shape and ability to step in and contribute so soon.

"He's been a joy to work with the last few days," Eberflus said. "He's buying into (Schottenheimer's) culture."

The scheme Eberflus uses will be familiar to Bears fans because of its heavy reliance on zone. According to Football Insights, Eberflus' defense is the only one not to use man to man at all this year. It's been all zone. By comparison, the Bears have used some form of man-to-man 28% of coverages, tied for 13th most.

Eberflus said he has adjusted his scheme based on his experience.

"Yeah I do that every year," he said. "You have to. You come up with different aspects of your scheme that you need to improve but it also comes down to the players that you have available to you.

"I think that's important, that you move your scheme to the players you have that particular week."

This will probably cause many rolling eyeballs in Chicago as Eberflus was often said by critics to be inflexible and not playing to the strengths of his players.

"I could list a lot of things that I learned (in Chicago)," Eberflus said. "But the biggest thing is that you've got to be able to communicate well and do a good job there with everybody that's working."

If only he had communicated he wanted a timeout against the Lions to refs on Thanksgiving.