Bears Sign Jennifer King to Staff
The Bears in 2021 hired their first female scout, and now they'll have their first female assistant coach.
It's not the first time she's broken a barrier in the NFL.
Former Washington Commanders assistant Jennnifer King has been hired to the Bears staff as assistant running backs coach to new running backs coach Chad Morton, the team confirmed.
King is the first black woman ever to be a full-time NFL coach. She was hired by the Commanders in 2021 and was part of Ron Rivera's staff that was let go after last season.
The Panthers had King on their staff in 2018 as a wide receivers intern coach and then in 2019 as an intern running backs assistant. She was also an intern coach in Washington in 2020, one year before becoming a full-time assistant running backs coach.
She had her first full-time pro coaching position with the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football as an assistant wide receivers and special teams coach in 2018.
King went to Guilford College and played basketball and softball.
Her football experience came from playing in the Women's Football Alliance as a quarterback and wide receiver for the Carolina Phoenix from 2006-17, for the New York Sharks in 2018 and then safety for the Washington DC Divas in 2019. The WFA is a semi-pro tackle league for women that started in 2009 and is still in existence.
In 2021 the Bears hired Ashton Washington as their first full-time female scout and she remains with the team's staff.
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