Bears Stoke Fires of Rivalry with Defensive Hire
The Bears and Packers rivalry just became even more interesting.
Bears coach Matt Nagy has hired former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine as his senior defensive assistant.
Pettine was fired by Green Bay after the NFC championship game when the defense got beat on several key downs for big gains. Pettine was roundly criticized for the play when Kevin King was burned by Tampa Bay receiver Scotty Miller but also because the Packers played man-to-man coverage in many situations and were burned for first downs or touchdowns.
The hiring is perceived as a way of providing some veteran guidance for new defensive coordinator Sean Desai.
This is the first time as a defensive coordinator for Desai, who replaced retired Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.
There's more involved here than just bringing in an experienced hand to help Desai, who was highly regarded by the Vic Fangio coaching staff in 2018 before Pagano became defensive coordinator.
Pettine's defensive schemes cause plenty of problems for the Bears offense and Nagy, in particular. In six games against the Bears, Pettine's Packers defenses limited the Bears to less than 18 points a game.
Pettine was head coach in Cleveland in 2014 and 2015. He was a defensive coordimator with the New York Jets from 2009-12, Buffalo in 2013 and then the Packers in 2018-20.
In addition to Pettine, the Bears also confirmed the promotion of Henry Burris to offensive quality control coach from the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowship and announced they had Mike Snyder has been promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach/offensive quality control.
Snyder had been involved in only quality control but will take on some of the responsibilities of quarterback coaching formerly held by John DeFilippo, who also has a dual role now as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
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