For once, the Packers are interested in taking a coach from the Bears instead of the other way around.
Eric Washington, the Bears’ defensive coordinator under Matt Eberflus this season, interviewed with the Packers on Tuesday to be their defensive line coach, CBS reported.
Washington, 55, spent one season with the Bears after former defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned in 2023. He also was a defensive assistant for the Bears in 2008 and ’09 and their defensive line coach in 2010 for Lovie Smith and was the defensive line coach at Northwestern from 2004 through ’07.
Washington was the Panthers’ defensive coordinator in 2018 and ’19 and spent the next four seasons as an assistant with the Bills before Eberflus hired him.
The Bears finished 13th in points allowed this season at an average of 21.8 per game.
New coach Ben Johnson, who was hired Monday, almost certainly has a short list of candidates for defensive coordinator and would not have retained Washington in that role. ESPN reported Johnson is looking to bring in former Saints defensive coordinator and head coach Dennis Allen, though the Bears will have to follow the Rooney Rule and go through a full interview process to fill that job.
