Little Super Bowl Experience Is One Drawback
The staff assembled by new Bears coach Matt Eberflus looks capable in many respects and disappointing in others.
The hiring of Eberflus himself earned the team criticism from those who believe someone on the offensive side was necessary to generate the kind of scoring jolt necessary to go from the bottom of league offenses to the top.
Hiring more of an unknown quantity also drew the Bears criticism when more accomplished coaches had been on their list, such as finalists Jim Caldwell and Dan Quinn or non-finalists Doug Pederson and Brian Flores.
Yet, Eberflus has his supporters from around the league as the type of coordinator capable of making the step up after years toiling as a coordinator or position coach.
Not every successful coach has to be a retread or a former offensive coordinator.
The key was going to be a strong staff and a vision for what he wanted the Bears to be.
The hiring is done. Here's how Eberflus did.
The 2022 Bears Coaching Staff
Head coach: Matt Eberflus
Defensive coordinator: Alan Williams
Offensive coordinator: Luke Getsy
Special Teams coordinator: Richard Hightower
Quarterbacks coach: Andrew Janocko
Wide Receivers coach: Tyke Tolbert
Offensive Line coach: Chris Morgan
Assistant Offensive Line coach: Austin King
Offensive Quality Control: Omar Young
Defensive Quality Control: Ronell Williams
Linebackers coach: Dave Borgonzi
Defensive Backs coach: James Rowe
Assistant Defensive Backs coach: David Overstreet II
Safeties coach: Andre Curtis
Defensive Line coach: Travis Smith
Assistant Defensive Line coach: Justin Hinds
Tight Ends coach: Jim Dray
Assistant Tight Ends coach: Tim Zetts
Running Backs coach: David Walker
Assistant Special Teams coach: Carlos Polk.
Coaching assistant: Kevin Koch
Grading Bears Staff Hires
Experience: C
There is a great deal of experience on this staff—it's just not experience at what their current roles will be or experience winning Super Bowls.
Eberflus has never been a head coach and was an NFL coordinator four years with one team. Getsy has never been an NFL offensive coordinator, although he did it one year in college and has seven years coaching within the NFC North. He has coached quarterbacks, so it will help in dealing with Justin Fields. There is no evidence he can develop a quarterback, though. After all, Aaron Rodgers was already a star by the time he arrived in Green Bay. Hightower has paid his dues and has been a special teams coordinator for five seasons. Tolbert has been in the NFL as a position coach since 2003 but never as passing game coordinator and now is in that dual role. While Walker was a position coach for two teams, he hasn't been in the NFL at all for three years. Dray is entirely inexperienced, making his first attempt to be in charge of tight ends. Travis Smith has plenty of experience as a defensive assistant and three years as a defensive line assistant but never has been the team's main defensive line position coach. This is an essential task, especially when a team is converting from a 3-4 to a 4-3. The Bears found out how important a defensive line coach is when they had Jay Rodgers, who presided over their effective 2018 defensive line. He left in 2021 for the Chargers and their ability to stop the run has plummeted.
Past Success: C+
Certainly Getsy has been part of success within the NFC North on the staff in Green Bay, and Eberflus' Colts defense has piled up turnovers while rating in the top half of the league most of the time. However, neither has been on a staff that made the Super Bowl. Williams was a defensive coordinator in Minnesota and had one good year and one terrible year but didn't make it to a conference title game. As a Colts position coach, however, he won a Super Bowl ring over the Bears. Kirk Cousins' efficiency improved while working with Janocko but the only real postseason success the Vikings achieved during Janocko's time there was making the NFC championship game in 2017, where they were buried by Philadelphia. Janocko wasn't coaching quarterbacks then, either. Morgan has been part of wildly successful running attacks as an offensive line coach with two Super Bowl qualifiers and knows the secrets of the league's most popular blocking trend.
The Vision: B
Eberflus has a very well thought-out plan on defense in terms of his HITS philosophy, and has seen it work in Indianapolis. The Colts were top 10 in takeaways four straight years, a stat usually thought to be more random than anything. They apply a system for measuring players' success in terms of hustle, intensity, takeaways or taking care of the ball and smart play. The system can also be applied to measure offensive and special teams success, as well. Getsy brings the wide zone blocking of the Shanahan offenses, along with past success from when the Packers built a passing attack around Aaron Rodgers in 2019. There are problems with hiring a defensive head coach in a league determined to increase scoring, but if the coach also has an offensive mind with ability to handle the other side of the ball then it can work. Numerous great coaches in the NFL came from the defensive side and found offensive minds with specific, effective plans for elevating the team. Bill Belichick is the classic example. The NFL coach of the year for this season was Mike Vrabel, who didn't play or coach offense before going to Tennessee.
Connectivity: B
This is critical but often underrated part of building coaching staffs. It's more than simply networking for the sake of being hired. Getting coaches who are connected to each other from some point in the past is helpful as they begin to work together. There is more immediate continuity. Eberflus knew almost all of his defensive coaches because they were in Indianapolis. It will help to get the HITS philosophy on that side of the ball up and running. Two of the defensive backs coaches worked for Eberflus in Indianapolis and so they know the cover-2 techniques the Bears will use well. Getsy didn't coach with Janocko but did coach him and knows him. Janocko was a quarterback at Pitt when Getsy was a grad assistant coach there under Dave Wannstedt. Morgan coached with Getsy's boss in Green Bay, Matt LaFleur, as well as with others who helped create the Shanahan style of attack in Washington and Atlanta.
Problem Solving: B-
The running game and offensive line have not been good in Chicago since Nagy arrived, even if league stats occasionally said otherwise. They have not been a team able to run when necessary against better defenses, and only did it against weaker fronts. The Dowell Loggains-John Fox coaching staff did very little right but producing a strong running attack with Jordan Howard was one of those things. So the hiring of an offensive line coach who knows how to implement the wide zone scheme and the Shanahan style approach that the Bears will pursue could lead to the end of a problem.
Bringing in an offensive coordinator from a rival team with a history of passing success under two coaching regimes is a stroke of genius.
Defensive problems stemmed more from personnel issues and now it's on Ryan Poles to fix those within a different scheme. Eddie Goldman struggled last year, Akiem Hicks is getting older, the secondary has two legitimate NFL starters out of five starting positions. These are not coaching problems. Another issue facing he Bears was how long they had been using the same 3-4 Vic Fangio defensive approach. It had been seven years. Opponents start to know what you're doing, so a change won't hurt in this regard.
Overall Grade: B-
If the Bears announced they were hiring Getsy as head coach there would probably be more fans excited about prospects for 2022 than there are now because the head coach would then come from the offensive side.
The only problem with Getsy's hiring as coordinator beyond limited play-calling experience is if he succeeds they can anticipate he'll be one of the first coaches hired next year by some losing team. That's not a situation they can be concerned about now. You don't hire people hoping they fail.
This season should all come down to how well Janocko and Getsy handle Fields' development and how fast Eberflus can convert the defense to his 4-3 style of play.
Eberflus will do all of this with a staff far more qualified in many respects than the one Nagy hired. Nagy twice hired an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach who were not in the NFL the previous year. His first offensive coordinator, Mark Helfrich, had never been in the NFL, but had at least played professionally. He played for the Vienna Vikings of the Austrian Football League.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
