Former Texans Assistant Chris Rumph Hired as Bears Defensive Line Coach
The Bears brought in someone from the Houston Texans on Thursday, just not the one everyone is talking about.
On a day when quarterback Deshaun Watson announced a formal trade request to Houston, the Bears replaced defensive line coach Jay Rodgers by hiring former Texans defensive assistant Chris Rumph.
Rumph, 49, enters his 20th year of coaching in 2021 and has had just one year as an NFL assistant. He has coached various positions on the defensive side of the ball for 18 years in college and last year he coached the outside linebackers for the Houston Texans.
The Texans last season finished 30th on total defense, 27th in scoring and were 32nd and last against the run. The Bears defeated Houston at Soldier Field 36-7, their highest scoring output since 2018.
Rumph spent 2011-2013 as defensive line coach for Nick Saban at Alabama, a stint that included national titles in 2011 and 2012.
Prior to coming to the Houston Texans, Rumph had been co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Tennessee in 2018 and 2019. He was defensive line coach in 2015 and 2016, then became defensive coordinator in 2017.
Rumph also has been at LSU, Clemson, Texas, Memphis, South Carolina and South Carolina State. Almost all of his position coaching was on the defensive line but he did handle defensive backs at South Carolina State in 2002 and outside linebackers at Memphis in 2003-05.
The Bears still need to fill the inside and outside linebackers coaching positions and possibly the safeties spot vacated when Sean Desai became the new defensive coordinator.
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