Special Soldier Field Battle for Dave Toub, Chris Tabor
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — There's more than one student and mentor reunion going on Sunday night at Soldier Field.
The obvious one of Matt Nagy against Andy Reid overshadows all when the Kansas City Chiefs play the Bears, but the other one is Chris Tabor against former Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub.
This is the first time Toub has been back to Soldier Field in a regular-season game since he left Chicago with the firing of his boss here, Lovie Smith. Tabor said Toub is "100 percent responsible" for getting the chance to be a special teams coordinator with the Bears and in the NFL.
"I'm here because Dave gave me an opportunity and coach Smith gave me an opportunity to come to the Bears a few years ago, but obviously I have a lot of respect for him (Toub), even more so as a person because he's just a great person and obviously he's a great coach and his units have always been tops in the league.
"And that's something that was instilled in me when I was here the first time, and we're chasing that right now to get it back to where it's supposed to be."
Toub, of course, was coordinator through the Devin Hester era, was in Chicago when Robbie Gould was kicker and had players like Brendon Ayanbadejo, Patrick Mannelly, Brad Maynard and Sherrick McManis. He was special teams coach of the year the season the Bears made the Super Bowl. Tabor came on board in Chicago as Toub's special teams assistant in 2008 and left in 2011 when he became special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.
Toub's manner for handling talent and producing effective special teams has made him a perennial potential candidate for numerous head coaching jobs. The Bears interviewed him after Smith left, then instead decided they wanted Marc Trestman as head coach.
"I say this: Do I think he should be a head coach? Absolutely," Tabor said. "And there's obviously been a lot of good head coaches that came from the special teams background.
"Obviously the first one everyone is going to say obviously is coach (John) Harbaugh no question, in there doing another great job in the AFC North. But I mean Bill Cowher started off as a special teams coach, coach (George) Allen, I mean, the list goes on and on. Coach (Mike) Ditka.
"I mean, the thing about special teams is we handle the whole team each and every day. And to be able to juggle personalities, juggle roster, make different moves, those are all talking points for us special teams coaches."
George Allen wasn't actually a coordinator but was the first head coach to hire a special teams coordinator and had always put a big emphasis on it both as Rams and Redskins head coach and also even while in Chicago as an assistant and then defensive coordinator. Ditka was a special teams coordinator for Tom Landry in Dallas.
It's definitely not a glamour job, not close to offensive or defensive coordinator.
"The thing probably we don't win the press conference," Tabor said. "That's OK because people don't know special teams coordinators. They only know us if it goes bad. But Dave Toub is a guy that has great leadership skills. He's a great leader of men.
"You know, I would love to see him get an opportunity because I think he'd be outstanding."
The Bears have had success with other special teams coordinators, like Mike Sweatman, Danny Abramowicz and 1985 special teams coordinator Steve Kazor.
Toub always was a favorite with reporters over the years in Chicago, because of his personality and success.
"It'll be fun seeing him," Tabor said.
Tabor has one of the league's most dynamic all-around special teams players in Cordarrelle Patterson and the No. 2 punt returner in the NFC with Tarik Cohen.
Chiefs special teams haven't been out of the top 10 in overall special teams rankings since Toub became their coordinator. They finished second in the league last year and were first in 2013. Pro Football Focus ranked them first last year.
This year Harrison Butker is No. 1 in scoring among kickers with 132 points and is 31 of 35 on field goals.
So Toub obviously hasn't lost his touch.
"To be honest with you, it's not always fun playing against him," Tabor said. "We've only played a few times.
"It'll be a neat deal."
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