FRISCO -- It's been said that football coaches are hired to one day be fired. It's inescapable for the best and longest-tenured coaches, and even the shortest-tenured ones. It's innately understood among those who choose this profession.

That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when it happens. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer knows. He went through it multiple times on his rise to becoming a first-time head coach this season.

"You know," Schottenheimer said before a short, but reflective pause, "there's always scars."

Scars carry stories. Those stories contain lessons. This week, with his recent history staring him in the face, Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus elected not to discuss either.

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Schottenheimer joked that one reporter might've bugged the team room when asking about Eberflus' return to Chicago this Sunday, but it wouldn't be necessary. The storyline speaks for itself.

It's been less than nine months since Eberflus' tenure in Chicago, lasting less than three years, ended. He was fired on Nov. 29, hours after he expressed optimism to reporters that he would remain the coach. He finished his first head coaching job with a 14-32 record. He holds the distinction of being the only head coach the Chicago Bears have ever fired during the season.

On Sunday, he returns to Chicago, where the scars of his regime are still there.

He's scheming against Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick quarterback the Bears selected last season. He's dueling against Bears play-caller and head coach Ben Johnson, someone who's not only a familiar opponent from his days in Detroit, but is also the guy who replaced Eberflus.

That all has to be on his mind, right?

"I haven't thought about it," Eberflus said about the potential reaction Chicago will have from his return.

To be fair, Eberflus has others things on his mind -- like remedying a defense that allowed 37 points and over 500 yards in last Sunday's win over the Giants.

After his firing, he didn't have to think too much about his future, either. He said it was the first December off he had with his family in his 34 years of coaching.

"I said two things are going to happen: I said we're going to get closer together and we're going to get closer to the Lord," Eberflus said. "And to me, we accomplished those two things and it was a good time with the family."

It may have been a different ending, but Eberflus also did what he does after any season: he said he reflected and took a look at himself. Through his reflection, he quickly realized that he wanted to continue coaching. It only took him a couple of weeks to come to that conclusion.

Part of his reflection, he said, also involved looking at his time at Chicago and seeing where he could grow and improve.

"That's the biggest part of experience," Eberflus said, "and that's what we're doing there."

Eberflus said there's a long list of things he learned from his time in Chicago. He elected not to detail those to reporters, even when asked for specifics. The most specific lesson learned was about communicating well and "doing a good job there with everybody who's working."

In Chicago, there were seemingly a lot of opportunities for lessons learned. He fired eight assistants in less than three years. His 14-32 record included a record of 5-19 in one-score games. He issued 18 challenges in his time as a head coach, resulting in only three overturns. His clock management was questioned and highlighted by his final loss, where a comeback attempt by the Bears was thwarted by a late sack, an unused timeout, and one final Hail Mary heave that didn't even reach the end zone.

After the game, Eberflus told reporters that he believed the Bears handled the clock management down the stretch the "right way." After the game, former Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen told reporters, "I feel like we did enough as players to win the game."

If there are lessons to be learned from his head coaching experience, surely some can be found in those areas.

"There's always hard moments in coaching," Eberflus said. "You're always disappointed when you lose because you put so much into it. The players put so much into it. You're most disappointed for the players. Once that settles in then you work to the next day, the sun comes up and you move forward. You learn and you grow and you keep going. That's what true grit is. That's what we're all about."

Schottenheimer said that he and Eberflus have talked about Eberflus' time in Chicago. The experience in Chicago was the result of a climb through the collegiate and NFL ranks that included a seven-year stint in Dallas as a linebackers coach and a defensive passing game coordinator. Eberflus excelled as a defensive coordinator in Indianapolis from 2018-21 before the Bears gave him his first head coaching job.

Schottenheimer is a first-time head coach, just as Eberflus was with the Bears. Eberflus, now back in Dallas, said he's tried to impart some of the wisdom gained from that experience onto Schottenheimer. He's here to help Schottenheimer. In doing so, he could have the chance to help himself.

"Flus is a damn good football coach," Schottenheimer said. "He's going to be a head coach again."

But first, he has to go back to where he was a head coach the first time.

"I imagine he wants to go in there and win," said Cowboys linebacker Jack Sanborn, who spent the first three years of his career in Chicago with Eberflus. "He wants us to go out there and play good ball just like every weekend."

If the Cowboys do, they appear to have a plan. Last week, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott gave a game ball to Schottenheimer for his first win as a head coach. This week, both Schottenheimer and Prescott said they plan to give one to Eberflus.

The man, himself, may not be focusing on his return, but many others are.

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Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus isn't focused on return to Chicago, but others in Dallas are