Bear Digest

Three Ways Bears Could Learn from Saints' Firing Experience

Analysis: New Orleans' experience with operating under an interim coach is already much different than it has been for the Bears and there are lessons to learn from it.
Gene Chamberlain|
Saints coach Darren Rizzi gets his message across quickly in last week's win over the Giants.
Saints coach Darren Rizzi gets his message across quickly in last week's win over the Giants. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Probably the most damaging aspect of Sunday's loss for Thomas Brown's hopes of becoming Bears 2025 head coach is how bad it looked in his debut compared to what's been happening in New Orleans.

There could be valuable information on a few fronts for the Bears by watching what is going on with the Saints.

The Saints fired Dennis Allen much the same way the Bears fired Matt Eberflus. They were mired in a losing streak and installed someone else. In this case it was Darren Rizzi.

They have not done what the Bears did and get blasted by a struggling, injured opponent.

Instead, Rizzi's team won three of the next four games and, in the one loss they had against a surging Rams team they had the ball at the L.A. 9-yard line with a chance to tie at the end on the road but lost.

Here are the interim coaching lessons best learned by the Bears from the Saints' experience with it.

1. Don't Ignore Special Teams Coaches

When the Bears really do begin their coaching search, they need to take into account special teams coordinators.

One name in particular, Dave Toub, should be a consideration because he has been so successful and because of his past ties to Chicago. Rizzi is another one who should be considered, if the Saints haven't already made him the 2025 head coach by then.

Rizzi has been a Saints special teams coordinator since 2010 after he had a small amount of head coaching experience in college at New Haven for a year and Rhode Island for a year.

The Saints might struggle now to win any more games because Derek Carr is reportedly out for the season with a broken hand, but then again, with Rizzi they might find ways to win. He's showing he knows how to keep a struggling team viable.

The Bears should have made Richard Hightower interim coach, even if they didn't think of him as a possible future head coach.

Doing this would have been better for Brown to continue showing what he could do as offensive coordinator and as someone who could work well with Caleb Williams. It definitely would have been better for Williams since he had already been working for three games with Brown.

WHY BEARS MUST PAY CLOSER ATTENTION TO LIAM COEN

All of this would have let them maintain status quo better and retain an edge better than taking the offensive coordinator and forcing him to assume all of the roles a head coach must perform during the week while also handling the attack.

2. Run the Football

Rizzi has shown he knows the secret to winning and it's something Brown should have known going to San Francisco because he was a running back. You run it and make sure the opponent knows you will.

Rizzi runs the football and gives his quarterback the benefit of play-action. The only game they had fewer rushing attempts than their opponent of the four they played under Rizzi was the first one, a 20-17 upset of the Falcons, and they came out running in that game, as well, with 18 first-half attempts. They eventually went to the pass once they established the run and still had 27 runs, which is a decent number.

The Bears' game plan against San Francisco was to act as if they had already established the run during pregame warmups.

The Saints have had 119 rushing attempts since firing Allen and never less than 27 rushes. The Bears ignored and abandoned the run against the 49ers until they were down 24-0, used it well then to drive for a TD, but then abandoned it all together after Caleb Williams' "fumble" and were blown out.

3. Measuring Talent

The best way to be sure about existing talent going forward to the next season is by seeing the team functioning well and within the system already provided until season's end. If it all disintegrates into chaos, the GM isn't going to get as good of a gauge on which positions he needs to replace for starters or depth purposes.

If the GM is being let go, the new GM wouldn't have as much benefit from seeing valuable film. The film from Sunday for the Bears is useless garbage.

The Saints are getting real value at evaluating personnel now for next year because they held everything in place together under Rizzi and moved forward.

Meanwhile, the Bears went totally out of character by blitzing too much, by passing too much and by playing poorly. They learn nothing about their personnel for the rest of the season.

iIf this is how they plan to finish, forfeits would be more valuable because it would allow them to preserve Caleb Williams' health and the health of those productive players they have who they are sure will be in place for next year.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.