Eric Washington is hired by the Chicago Bears to be the new DC.

Washington, who previously worked with Sean McDermott in Carolina, joined the Buffalo Bills in 2020.

Eric Washington, who accepted the position of defensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears, is returning to the Windy City. On Saturday, Tom Pelissero was the first to report that Washington was moving from Buffalo to Chicago. Peliserro stated that defensive play calling will continue to be done by head coach Matt Eberflus.

After coming to the Buffalo Bills in 2020 as a defensive line coach, Washington’s contribution to the defense of the team kept expanding. Head coach Sean McDermott elevated Washington even higher prior to the 2022 NFL season, tagging assistant head coach to his NFL résumé.

With Texas Tech in 1997, Washington started his football coaching career as an assistant coach. From 2001 to 2003, he held the same position at Ohio. Washington has decades of experience coaching football. Washington became the defensive line coach of Northwestern in 2004 and stayed there until 2007.

Washington joined the Chicago Bears in 2008 as a defensive assistant. In 2010, he received his first NFL promotion to defensive line coach with the Bears. Washington then served as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive line coach from 2011 to 2017. In 2019, Washington received a promotion to become the Panthers’ defensive coordinator. He stayed in that role for two seasons before moving to Buffalo to work with McDermott.

In 2022, Eric Washington was chosen to take part in the NFL Coach and Front Office Accelerator program. The NFL’s accelerator program aims to increase diversity by highlighting minority applicants for potential head coaching and general manager positions as well as other decision-making positions down the road.

Now, all eyes will be on Sean McDermott, who will attempt to take over for Washington as the team’s defensive line coach. McDermott also talked about the team’s status as a free agent.