Packers Legend With Turnover Mentality Interviews to Replace Jeff Hafley

Former Green Bay Packers cornerback Al Harris, a key part of the Chicago Bears’ playmaking defense this year, interviewed to replace Jeff Hafley on Wednesday.

Al Harris talks before his induction into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame on Sept. 2, 2021. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin via Imagn Content Services, LLC

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Former Green Bay Packers cornerback and current Chicago Bears assistant coach Al Harris interviewed on Wednesday to replace Jeff Hafley as defensive coordinator.

Harris and Charles Woodson formed the 50th class of the Packers Hall of Fame.

Harris spent this season as the Bears’ defensive backs coach and defensive passing-game coordinator. The Bears ranked 22nd in passing yards allowed per game and 28th in passing yards allowed per attempt but led the NFL with 23 interceptions.

“I think the most impressive thing to me is just the ball mindset that our team has at all three levels of the defense,” Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said before the first game against Green Bay. “I've said this before, I'll continue to say this. I think Al's been a great addition for us in terms of being able to do that.

“You track him all throughout his career and the secondaries that he's been a part of, they've taken the ball away. That's not by accident. That's a mindset, a mentality. He's done a great job with our back end of really instilling that.”

Al Harris Was Packers Pro Bowler

Harris, a sixth-round draft pick by Tampa Bay in 1997, spent five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before being acquired in a trade by the Packers in 2003.

“The year prior to being traded, I went to Andy Reid probably once a day for about two weeks after every practice asking to be traded,” Harris said during his Packers Hall of Fame conference call. “He really didn’t understand why I wanted to be traded. I just told him, ‘Coach, when you were an assistant coach, you were aspiring to be a head coach. Well, I’m a third corner and I can’t make the Pro Bowl as a third corner.’

“He told me one day after practice, ‘Al, at the end of the year, I’m going to do what’s best for the team and I’m going to do what’s best for you.’ The night before the trade, he called me and told me the teams and he said, ‘Any preference that you have?’ I was like, ‘No, not really.’

“I asked his advice and he said, ‘I’ve been in Green Bay, I know Mike Sherman and, if it was me and I was advising my son, I would go to Green Bay.’ Once I got there, I tipped my hat to Mike Sherman for pulling the trigger on that trade. I think he gave up a second-round pick. I’m just thankful, man.”

The Packers, obviously, were thankful, too. Harris played eight seasons for the team, recording 14 interceptions and 108 passes defensed. He was a Pro Bowler in 2007 and 2008.

Green Bay Packers Al Harris exalts after he returned an interception for the game-winning touchdown against the Seahawks. | Tom Lynn, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Harris recorded one of the most memorable moments in Packers history when he intercepted Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck and returned it 52 yards for the game-winning touchdown in the 2003 playoff game at Lambeau Field.

“I was just happy I caught the ball. There’s guys who played with me who would tell you my ball skills weren’t that good,” Harris said.

Coaching Philosophy for Al Harris

Harris’ final season as an NFL player was with the St. Louis Rams in 2011. He got his start as a coach as an intern with the Dolphins in 2012. He spent the 2013 through 2018 seasons with the Chiefs before becoming a defensive assistant at Florida Atlantic in 2019.

Harris spent the previous four seasons as the Cowboys’ assistant head coach and defensive backs coach. During that span, they led the NFL with 72 interceptions. Cornerback Trevon Diggs, who finished this season with the Packers but was released this week, led the NFL with 11 interceptions in 2021.

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“If you’re not coaching takeaways, you’re not going to get takeaways,” Harris told The Chicago Tribune recently. “If you are consistently coaching scheme, all you’re going to get is a bunch of guys that know the check to three-man, two-man and know the verbiage. You’re going to teach that, anyways. …

“Everything I am doing, I am defending their system. If you watch from Kansas City to Dallas to now, a lot of the times we’re beating the receivers to the route, to the ball. It’s because we’re defending the scheme not so much the wide receiver. … That way I’m never talking about knocking the ball down or anything like that. That’s a given. If your eyes are in the right place and the mindset of taking the ball away is there, you’re going to get the pass breakup. That’s a given. The ending to each drill, the ending to each play in our minds is the takeaway.”

Harris said he’s not a “yeller and screamer.” Rather, he wants to build confidence in his players.

“Obviously, I teach technique and the ins and outs of the game,” he told the NFL’s Play Football site. “I also use the same philosophy that worked for me – giving them confidence and believing in them.

“Lionel Washington, my position coach in Green Bay, believed in me. Emmitt Thomas, my coordinator in Philadelphia, believed in me. Guys that didn’t just teach you the game, but also gave you confidence – that’s what makes good coaches.”

That belief stood out in cornerback Nahshon Wright. He was one of Harris’ players in Dallas. In three seasons, Wright started three games and intercepted one pass. After playing in only one game for Minnesota last year, he started 16 games for the Bears this year. He intercepted five passes, forced two fumbles and recovered three fumbles.

“Crazy, just because of the fact that he's always believed in me, and that goes a long way,” Wright said before the first Packers game. “I texted him yesterday and I just told him like, I appreciate him more than he knows. Because teams gave up on me in a sense.

“It is cool to have someone like that who believes in you. I've been on, this is now my third team, and he's still been there every step of the way checking on me. It's definitely been a crazy journey that we've been on, and I hope to continue to be with him and finish out my career with him maybe or however it may shake out. It has definitely been crazy.”

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