Bear Digest

Chicago's very own Antwaan Randle El works to restore hometown roar

Analysis: Chicagooan Antwaan Randle El sees the Bears' starting point with Ben Johnson as advanced compared to their difficult starting point with the Lions.
Gene Chamberlain|
Antwaan Randle El on His Return Home.mp4
Antwaan Randle El on His Return Home.mp4

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Chicago Bears

Antwaan Randle El is Chicago's very own through and through.

Detroit and the other places merely had him on loan.

The new Bears wide receivers coach and assistant head coach had to pinch himself a bit to get back to reality after he took on is new role, coming to Halas Hall with coach Ben Johnson from the Lions after growing up a Bears fan and a multi-sport athlete at Thornton High.

He admits he had to fight back some emotion when he finally joined the Bears.

"I had to try not to because I wanted to get focused and locked in, but it just catches up with you," Randle El said. "It wasn't weird, it was just like, 'Man, this is really happening. This is it.'

"I wouldn't say sentimental, it was just so cool. This is it. That's as far as it went. Had to shut it off, kind of get focused, because, like I said, we have a lot of work to do."

Randle El said he almost became a Bears receiver once when he left the Pittsburgh Steelers to go to Washington in 2006. It was a missed opportunity.

He remembers the first Bears Super Bowl team well, though.

"I just always remember the Super Bowl Shuffle, I remember that," he said. "I just remember the Fridge (William Perry), Willie Gault, Dennis Gentry, we played Tecmo Bowl with those guys. It was a big deal.

"For me, those are the memories. Really, it was the Super Bowl years. Even coming up, it was just like, man, because I always wanted to go pro in whatever came first, as it relates to the sport. 'Could I ever play for the Bears?' Like, that was always a deal. Now, that didn't happen. It almost happened, somewhere between everybody, I ended up going to Washington. Just growing up and watching them, that Super Bowl, and the Shuffle and all of that, and singing and hanging out with it, was always a good deal."

Randle El played quarterback at Indiana, basketball there for Bobby Knight and baseball good enough to get drafted in the 14th round by the Cubs. He was on Thornton's famed basketball team that beat Kevin Garnett's and Ronnie Fields' Farragut team in Champaign at the state quarterfinals.

He has more touchdown passes in a Super Bowl than any Bears quarterback since Jim McMahon (1), and a longer pass reception than any Bears receiver had in a Super Bowl since then.

He also still has a mean jump shot even if he says he has let it go to waste of late.

It paled in comparison to winning a ring in his final Steelers season of 2005, Bill Cowher's last team. He returned to the Steel City after four years in Washington for his final NFL season in 2010 and got back to the Super Bowl again with coach Mike Tomlin, before losing to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

"That's the thing, we know, coming in, is that this is not what it was in Detroit. When we got to Detroit, it was bare, so to speak. That's not that here. "
Bears receivers coach Antwaan Randle El

The challenge now is to restore the Bears to a level he saw them at while a youth or even when he was winning his ring. And he has some good news for Chicago fans about what he found when he took a look at the hand coaches have been dealt. He compared it to the situation when he and Johnson arrived in Detroit.

"That's the thing, we know, coming in, is that this is not what it was in Detroit," Randle El said. "When we got to Detroit, it was bare, so to speak. That's not that here.

"We have guys that are hungry and guys that can play right off the bat. It's up to us, as coaches, to get these guys going, and put them in a place where they can be successful. That's our goal. It is not going to be easy for the coaches, and we're not going to make it easy on our players, by any means. We have to get after it, so that when September comes, we have a group that is ready to ready to roll, and not just a game here or a game there, it has to be sustainable."

In Detroit, Randle El had a fourth-round receiver pick in Amon-Ra St. Brown and helped him become an All-Pro. Randle El benefits now from having Rome Odunze, who he had highly ranked in last year's draft, and veteran DJ Moore.

"I just see him in a lot of ways," Randle El said of Moore. "A lot of times, he's catching these screens, but he can run routes. He can come inside and do some things, too. I'm excited about that.

"Then, with Rome, the biggest thing with Rome is that he has the height, and as tall as he is, the length that he has, he can drop his weight and get in and out of his routes. That was good to see."

Randle El said he had Odunze graded above both Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers last year.

"I'm not going to keep harping on them because the rest of our room, they are going to be able to compete and get us where we need to go, as well," Randle El said. "Rome and DJ, certainly, are going to lead that up, but we have some other cats that are going to help us out, for sure."

The coaching began for Randle El upon arrival before even meeting the players. He sought them out by phone first.

"You can't come in and coach somebody hard or coach somebody soft if you don't know them and build that relationship," he said. "I shouldn't say soft, because that's never happening, but just from a standpoint, the building relationship part, that's where it starts. And not just about knowing where they went to school and that type of deal, but it's getting to know them.

"The moment I signed, I called DJ first, I called Rome, and I kind of went from there and started calling the other guys, as it relates to what it looks like. Not what to expect, but, man, 'What's up?' They were welcoming me. 'Coach, get me right,' that type of deal. The relationship just begins there."

If it goes where they all hope, they can all become Chicago area sports legends, like their new position coach already is.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.