The Chicago Bears are still in the process of filling out new head coach Ben Johnson’s inaugural staff for the next season, but they took another step forward amid Thursday night’s 2025 NFL Honors annual award ceremony. The Bears have officially named Johnson’s coordinators – Dennis Allen, Declan Doyle and Richard Hightower – for the 2025 season, but reports have also confirmed several other yet-to-be-announced assistant hires for his staff. Some have even quietly announced their own hiring, such as new quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett, who added “QB coach @chicagobears” to his Instagram bio. Now, the Bears are making another move, this time for their defense. Former Dallas Cowboys safeties coach Cannon Matthews Kyle Terada/Imagn Images Kyle Terada/Imagn Images According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Bears are hiring former Dallas Cowboys defensive assistant Cannon Matthews as a defensive assistant and nickels coach for the 2025 season, adding another piece to Johnson’s staff. “Veteran assistant Cannon Matthews is joining the #Bears as [a] defensive assistant/nickels coach, per source,” Pelissero wrote on X on Thursday night. Matthews has 17 seasons of NFL coaching, most recently serving as the Dallas Cowboys’ safeties coach for the 2024 season. Ex-head coach Mike McCarthy had originally hired him as a defensive quality control coach on his inaugural Cowboys staff, but he promoted him twice in his five-season stint. Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. Jim Dedmon/Imagn Images Jim Dedmon/Imagn Images Matthews has also spent time coaching in Cleveland, Buffalo, Tennessee and Washington, primarily as a defensive quality control coach. While Pelissero’s report indicates Matthews will work with the nickel backs, the Bears might formally extend those responsibilities to working with the safeties when they make their official hiring announcement later in the offseason. Matthews will presumably work under new Bears pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach Al Harris, who also spent the past five seasons in Dallas.