Bears Have Someone to Guide Justin Fields

Justin Fields now has some direction.

The Bears hired former Packers passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy as their offensive coordinator.

The hire was critical as head coach Matt Eberflus is a defensive coordinator and they needed someone with a history of coaching quarterbacks but who also knows offense.

The fact Getsy comes from a team running the so-called "Shanahan" style of offense that Green Bay uses under coach Matt LaFleur is a plus, as well. The offense often gets quarterbacks out into the open field where Fields could use his speed or get better looks downfield for big gains.

Getsy has been with the Packers since 2014, except for the 2018 season when he was play caller and offensive coordinator for Mississippi State. He returned to the Packers in 2019 with LaFleur as a quarterbacks coach and was elevated to passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He also was a receivers coach for the Packers when Mike McCarthy was head coach.

NFL Network reported the Bears had interviewed Jaguars wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal for offensive coordinator, but it's also possible they would consider him for receivers coach. They previously had interviewed former Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton for offensive coordinator.

Re-phrase- it doesn’t look like Pep is coming back to Chicago. He has options and wants what is best for his family
— Greg Gabriel (@ggabefootball) January 30, 2022

Lal has been either a quality control coach, quality control coach or senior assistant for the Raiders, Jets, Bills, Colts, Cowboys, Seahawks and Jaguars since 2007. He had come to Jacksonville last season as part of Urban Meyer's staff.

As the Bears front office and coaching staff continued to take shape, the Minnesota Vikings did something Saturday many Chicagoans wanted to see from their team.

They interviewed Jim Harbaugh for head coach, according to a Pro Football Talk report.

New Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has a relationship with Harbaugh dating back to the time both were in San Francisco together.

It will be interesting to find out whether either Bears board chairman George McCaskey or someone on the hiring committee contacted Harbaugh at all before the hiring of new coach Matt Eberflus, because of Harbaugh's long Chicago ties. Former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt last week on WSCR AM-670 and the Under-Center Podcast said there had not been contact between the team and Harbaugh.

The Bears were releasing the names of those they interviewed and Harbaugh was not included.

Harbaugh came into the NFL as a first-round draft pick with the Bears in 1987. He was an assistant coach with the Raiders and there had been speculation he might be included in the Las Vegas search for a head coach, but this has not materialized.

The Bears have scheduled their first press conference since hiring GM Ryan Poles and Eberflus for Monday at 11 a.m. It's unknown whether McCaskey will take any questions on the process but if he does the Harbaugh situation is certain to be a topic on the minds of questioners.

The Bears' hiring news on Saturday was a bit more subdued. They hired their first assistant general manager ever, Eagles director of player personnel Ian Cunningham.

Cunningham has been in the NFL for 14 years with the Ravens and Eagles. He was part Super Bowl winners in each city. Like his new boss, Poles, Cunningham was an offensive lineman in college at Virginia and signed with Kansas City in 2008 as an undrafted free agent but didn't make the team.

Cunningham went to the Ravens in 2008 after he didn't get into the league as a player, and started a front-office career as a player personnel assistant. He worked up to area scout and then went to the Eagles as the director of college scouting in their 2017 Super Bowl season. With the Eagles, he was part of the selection of Dallas Goedert, Devonta Smith and Landon Dickerson.

The Bears also plan to interview Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, according to ESPN. He interviewed already with the Chargers for special teams coordinator.

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