Matt Nagy always talked about the grand tradition of the Chicago Bears. He even wore George Halas' hat to the season opener again Green Bay in 2019. Yet it never really felt like the Chicago Bears head coach truly embraced the tradition of this franchise. Especially when it came to meeting with franchise alumni, he didn't see it as a point of emphasis to build those inroads. Barely two months into the tenure of Matt Eberflus, and it's apparent he is a different animal.
The former linebacker-turned-defensive coordinator idolized Dick Butkus growing up. So it is hardly a surprise he jumped at the opportunity to reach out to several Bears legends when he took over in Chicago. During an interview with longtime insider Peter King on his podcast, Eberflus revealed he'd spoken to 30-35 alumni, including his childhood hero. Part of it was to introduce himself and take a chance to utilize their considerable skills.
In fact, he already has plans for one such iconic name.
"Eberflus: Calling the alumni. That was pretty special. You look at your phone and you got Dick Butkus...he texted me back. Then you have Julius Peppers, (Brian) Urlacher, (Lance) Briggs. It's truly amazing. Tillman. Peanut Tillman. Hopefully he's coming in for a spring practice to talk to the team. I got him talked into that. So we'll see. King: Maybe he can teach them the (Peanut) Punch. Eberflus: Oh he's going to. He's going to."[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/How-the-‘Peanut-Punch-play-originated-NFL-Countdown.mp4"][/video] It is hardly a surprise that Eberflus would do that. Charles Tillman changed the game of football when he brought the Peanut Punch to the NFL. Before him, defensive backs and linebackers never really focused on forcing fumbles of ball carriers. Tillman showcased how devastating such a skill could be during his ten seasons with the organization. Now everywhere you look around the league, guys are throwing that punch. Eberflus is installing the Tampa-2 defense again in Chicago. The same system helped Tillman become a superstar in Chicago under Lovie Smith. So it's only natural the head coach would enlist the former All-Pro to help teach the defense on how to employ this art. A major emphasis will be on turnovers moving forward, so having this knowledge should further that plan.







