For the first time since September, Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus will have a separate defensive coordinator on his staff.

The Bears announced Saturday that they hired Buffalo Bills assistant head coach and defensive line coach Eric Washington to be their new DC. Washington previously coached with the Bears from 2008-10 under Lovie Smith and served as the defensive line coach in 2010 with defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, an Eberflus mentor.

Washington coached the Bills defensive line since 2020 and was promoted to senior defensive assistant in 2022 and assistant head coach in 2023. He has two years of defensive coordinator experience with the Carolina Panthers in 2018-19 under Ron Rivera. Before that, he coached the Panthers defensive line for seven seasons.

The Bills defense ranked in the top 10 in multiple categories in 2023, including total yards and passing yards allowed per game, sack rate, interception rate and points allowed per game.

Washington is considered a strong teacher and leader who is detailed in his focus on fundamentals and will be able to help the coaching staff schematically, a source said.

“He is a great communicator with elite leadership skills and he will enhance our current defensive staff,” Eberflus said in a statement Saturday. “His track record speaks for itself with coordinator experience as well as expertise in the area of defensive line.”

Eberflus did not fill the defensive coordinator position in September when Alan Williams resigned for what sources told the Tribune was conduct-related reasons, though Eberflus did add senior defensive analyst Phil Snow to help scout opponents. Eberflus took over play calling, and with the help of the addition of defensive end Montez Sweat, helped the defense turn around from a rough start.

Eberflus said this month that he still was determining whether he would continue to call plays after bringing in a coordinator, but NFL Network reported Saturday that the expectation is Eberflus will remain in that role.

“It’s something I’ve stated I love to do,” Eberflus said this month. “But as we talk to these candidates, we’re going to keep everything open right now.”

Washington will help ease the load for Eberflus, who noted during the season he was working later nights to fill both roles. Eberflus said he was looking for a coordinator with high character who was a strong motivator. He wanted someone who could lead the defensive room while Eberflus addresses other areas of the team.

“My family and I are beyond excited to be returning to the Chicago Bears,” Washington said in a statement. “It is humbling to have the opportunity to contribute to one of the most esteemed sports organizations in the world.”

While the Bears fired five offensive coaches — including coordinator Luke Getsy — when their 7-10 season ended, Eberflus opted to keep the defensive staff intact. Washington joins a group that includes cornerbacks coach/defensive passing game coordinator Jon Hoke, defensive line coach Travis Smith, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi and safeties coach Andre Curtis.

The Bears finished 12th with 324.2 yards allowed per game and had the top-ranked rushing defense, allowing just 86.4 yards per game on the ground. They also finished with a league-best 3.57% interception rate after totaling 22 interceptions to go with six fumble-recovery takeaways.

Their passing defense, ranked 25th with 237.8 yards allowed per game, and their league-worst 4.86% sack rate need improvement.

Washington joins what the Bears hope is an ascending group. He played tight end at Grambling State and also coached defensive line at Northwestern (2004-07) and Ohio (2001-03).

The Bears reportedly interviewed at least three other coaches to join their defensive staff: former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry, Tennessee Titans assistant head coach/defensive line Terrell Williams and Titans defensive pass game coordinator Chris Harris.

Washington will be the Bears’ third major hire since the season ended. They have announced the

Glasses were raised far and wide Sunday night, Feb. 25, as friends and family paid tribute to the man known by many as “Earl the Pearl.”

Earl Johnson, a longtime wildlife manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Detroit Lakes and champion of prairie grouse, woodcock and little brown bats – to name but a few – died Feb. 25.

He was 75 years old.

Earl’s younger brother, Mark Johnson, executive director of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, shared the news shortly before noon Sunday in a widely circulated email.

“I’ll be raising a glass of fine bourbon in his honor and memory this evening,” Mark Johnson wrote.

Based on the replies that quickly flowed in, he had plenty of company.

Dan Svedarsky, a professor emeritus of natural resources at the University of Minnesota Crookston and founding member of the Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society, said “Earl loved his dogs” and loved watching them work in the field, whether hunting sharp-tailed grouse on the prairie or pointing woodcock broods in the forests of northwest Minnesota for banding in the spring.

Earl and his siblings grew up in Fertile, Minnesota.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody that loved their dogs more,” Svedarsky said. “And it was a great sadness for me when I was visiting with him within the last year, and he was in the process of getting rid of his dogs.”

Declining health and mobility issues meant Earl could no longer spend the time in the field with his canine companions.

“I could just feel that he had a heavy heart because he had such a close relationship with his dogs and enjoyed the field and watching his dogs work,” Svedarsky said. “And that’s one of the things that I will always remember about Earl is just how much and how devoted he was to his dogs. And it just saddened me greatly when I realized how much it saddened him to realize he was at that stage where he was going to have to say goodbye to his dogs because of his physical limitations.

“And he was just such a nice guy.”

Johnson was a longtime member of the Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2023, and was volunteer treasurer for nearly 35 years. According to his obituary, Johnson also was active in Woodcock Minnesota and the Ruffed Grouse Society.

“Perhaps his most infamous expertise was little brown bats,” Johnson’s obituary stated. “His bat house design was nationally known and locally notorious. …”

Johnson’s death is a big loss for the Prairie Chicken Society and grasslands support in general, said Ross Hier of Crookston, a retired DNR wildlife manager, longtime friend and fellow leader in the society.

Hier said he’s known Johnson for “probably 40 years”

“He was just a very unique person,” Hier said. “He was kind of a renaissance man, in many ways. I’ve seen videos of him singing in his home Lutheran church, which I didn’t know that part of him. He was a very skillful carver, making things out of antlers” and other materials.

“I’m privileged to have known him for so long,” Hier said. “He was a northwest Minnesota character through and through.”

Mark Johnson said he always knew Earl was “very well respected and very connected in the conservation world,” but didn’t realize the incredible extent of that respect and involvement until the past week.

“Several years ago, when I first became aware of his nickname ‘The Pearl,’ I thought it was for his personality, but quickly was made aware by his colleagues that it was also because of his depth of knowledge and ability to share that knowledge on all sorts of levels,” Mark Johnson told the Herald. “Another nickname for him was ‘The Batman’ because of his interest in and advocacy for bats. That by itself is another story.”

Despite his recent mobility challenges, Earl was looking forward to sharptail camp this fall, with plans to “age and sex each harvested bird, pass shoot doves … and generally hold down camp,” Mark Johnson said.

“Needless to say, he will be an intimate component of each of our bird camps and hunts this fall as we celebrate his life and friendship,” Mark Johnson said.

The funeral service for Earl Johnson was scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, March 1, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Detroit Lakes. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy “Dotz,” three daughters, six grandchildren, four sisters and two brothers.

“My hope is that Earl’s passion for conservation will continue to inspire others to take up the mantle and do what they can as well,” Mark Johnson told the Herald. “He never believed one person was the answer, but that one person was an intimate part of the answer.

“I miss him.”

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Chicago White Sox players participated in an obstacle course with kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago during a surprise visit Thursday in Bridgeport.

The Sox experienced several hurdles last season on the way to 101 losses. They’ll attempt to find the path to improvement with pitchers and catchers scheduled to report to spring training Feb. 14.

Manager Pedro Grifol isn’t thinking about the first game of the season or beyond.

“I’m thinking about the first week of spring training and we’ve got to win that first week,” Grifol said at Thursday’s event. “We’ve got to go into spring training and prepare ourselves to win baseball games. We’ll take it five to seven days at a time and we’ll continue to evaluate the week and correct the things we need to correct and go from there.

“There’s a lot of work to be done before that first game. There’s a lot of conversations between our staff and the players and we’ll be ready to play come day one.”

There have been pitching and hitting summits since the final out of the woeful 2023 season.

“Once that last game was over, the calendar changed for us,” Grifol said. “There’s been really good communication. (General manager) Chris (Getz) installed the pillars he wants the organization to abide by. I’ll have my style of play I want to see on the field and the players will be a part of the process.

“There is a lot of things that are different (this spring compared to last). The energy in spring training I thought last year was OK, but it’s hard to evaluate it because we had so many guys who weren’t there (with the World Baseball Classic taking place). But that’s something we’re going to focus on, the details are something we’re going to focus on.”

Grifol knows it has to be more than just talk.

“When I put myself in the eyes of the fans, we’ve got to prove it on the field,” he said. “I can stand here today and say, ‘We’re going to do this or do that.’ That’s not what this is about. This is about us preparing ourselves to play and prove to our fans — they had a difficult year last year — that we’re going to come out and play a different style of baseball.”

Grifol said he’s most excited about getting to spring training “because the energy we have, that our players are showing, the energy that our front office and coaching staff is showing. We have five new coaches on our staff. And plus what we did last year. We’re motivated, we’re excited to come back and prove to this league that we’re capable of doing some good things. I just feel it, there is a good vibe.”

Grifol likes the moves the team has made this offseason and anticipates a lot of competition at camp.

“Last year we went into spring training probably six or seven starters deep, this year you’re probably looking at 15-16 starters,” he said. “Some of these guys are young, some ended the year in Double A, some in Triple A. Just to look at our depth compared to where we were at this time last year is really encouraging for us.”

One of those experienced starters could be Dylan Cease, who has been mentioned in trade speculation throughout the offseason. Grifol said Cease has been “unfazed” by the chatter.

“I talked to him yesterday, it was a great conversation and we talked about him (pitching) opening day,” Grifol said. “And he’s preparing himself for that and he feels great. He’s throwing pens, he doesn’t have any soreness, he’s excited about this club. He’s excited about the guys we’ve acquired, excited about our catching. Brian Bannister is part of the organization (as senior adviser to pitching), he’s excited to get to work with him and (pitching coach) Ethan (Katz).

“He’s unfazed by all these trade talks and all this stuff. If it happens, he understands the business. But like I told him and he told me, right now he’s our opening-day starter and get ready to do that.”

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Bruce Helmer and Peg Webb

After you’re gone, everything you own becomes your “estate.” This includes your house, car, possessions (even pets), investments, and savings. You need to plan for how these assets are distributed after you’re gone by creating an estate plan.

It’s also critical that you maintain a secure document that lets loved ones know how to find your important estate-planning documents and financial-account information when they need to.

Today’s article focuses on how to organize and keep track of your financial “stuff.” We’ll start by listing the five essential documents you need to include as part of your planning process, and then offer a few checklist items for keeping track of all your financial information in one location.

Five essential documents

Will: A will lays out who you want to receive your assets when you die and helps ensure that your estate is distributed correctly when the time comes.

Power of Attorney (POA): A POA allows you to designate someone to step in and manage your finances if you are unable to.

Health care Directive: This works much like a POA, with an important difference. A POA is usually created to handle financial decisions, but a health care directive handles medical decisions.

Beneficiary Designations: A beneficiary designation dictates who will receive benefits from certain insurance or retirement accounts after you pass away. It’s important to understand that your beneficiary designations supersede what’s in your will — which means they will inherit those assets no matter who you’ve identified as an heir in your will.

Trusts: A trust is a legal entity created to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. The person setting up the trust can dictate exactly how and when beneficiaries receive the assets in the trust. However, trusts can be expensive or complex to set up and maintain. Be sure to talk with your financial adviser or an estate planning attorney to ensure a trust makes sense before adding one to your estate plan.

Keeping track of your stuff

Over the years we’ve heard many stories of people passing away leaving their spouses or family members completely in the dark about their financial situation. More often than not, it’s because the deceased hadn’t taken the time to organize their estate planning and financial records, and stored them in a centralized, secured location that the spouse knew how to find.

With the start of spring just days away, this is a great time to get your financial house in order. Here are some of our time-tested best tips:

Toss out the pesky and unnecessary financial documents: Most tax returns, bank statements, and receipts are not useful after seven years. File or scan only what you need and toss the rest out securely (shred paper documents or toss them in the burn pile).

Organize the documents you need to keep: If you’re using a file cabinet, organize your files chronologically, so you can find them easily (make sure your file cabinet is in a secure spot that you or loved ones can get to quickly). If you scan documents, be sure to name them appropriately and include the year.

If you’ve stored family heirlooms that you aren’t using, consider gifting them to loved ones while you’re alive.

Consolidate accounts: If you have investment accounts with different custodians, think about moving them to a single account with one custodian. This makes it easier to keep track of your investment dollars and greatly simplifies the estate settlement process for your executor or heirs. While you’re at it, consider closing bank accounts and credit cards that you no longer need.

Document, document, document: We’re big believers in having a single checklist or spreadsheet that tells your spouse or executor how to locate the following:

• Most current will and last testament

• Power of attorney and living will

•Trust documents

• Financial statements (retirement, brokerage, mortgage, home equity, etc., with account numbers)

• Tax returns

• Deeds

• Insurance contracts (Term life, whole life, annuities)

• Contact information for all of your financial advisers

Keep this list in a safety deposit box or encrypted file on your hard drive — and make sure your loved ones know how to access it.

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.