Colts interview Matt Rhule for some reason

There was a rumor out there that the Bears might be interviewing the Arizona Cardinal DC for a spot on the staff. If there is any truth to that, I hope we get him (albeit I’d miss Fangio). Arizona DC’s is awesome. Fangio is really good too. Upside with Fangio is he is probably not going to get a HC job where as the Arizona DC is young, charismatic, well regarded and if he doesn’t get the Arizona job he’s probably getting a HC job sometime in the next couple of years.

Where are you seeing this? I searched twitter and can’t find anything that says Helfrich is being considered for the Bears

I was relying what a couple other people told me. I can’t see twitter when I’m on my firewall so was relying on them being accurate. I know Helfrich has a standing offer to be the UCLA OC (rejoining Chip Kelly).

3 Former Bears assistants on the staff. Tabor is a really good hire. Bringing Toub’s system back to Chicago. For him to survive as many coaches and GM’s in Cleveland was impressive. Browns ST wasn’t as good this past year but for most of his tenure they were very very good. Toub clearly put in a good word for Tabor with Nagy (and I’m presuming Tabor has to be thrilled to be coming back to Chicago). Patrick Mannelly gushed about Tabor earlier tonight.

Jeff Hughes of DaBearsBlog reported Harry Hiestand yesterday. He posted Mark Helfrich as OC in the comments section on his site but only speculated on twitter. Mully and other beat guys have confirmed this morning. Helfrich addition would be fascinating.

Edited January 11, 20188 yr by Y2JImmy0

Learning that having connections from previous jobs not as big of a deal, I guess most of these guys coming from mutual connection through his agent. Thanks former bear Trace Armstrong!

 

Really liking this staff so far.

 

Bizarrely full of former bear coaches ha

Officially official. Enjoying our new resident Bears insider chisoxfn!

Gruden looking at the Michigan QB coach. We threw 9 TDs all season. Take him.

The Bear offense should have no excuse to not be extremely dynamic next season. Not that they are certain to be great but at the very least they should have a dynamic mix and creativity. One would think they will really look to add some playmakers on offense through the draft and FA but they still need parts on D too. As excited as I am about the staff that is being put together they still have a ways to go in building a real contender.

The Bear offense should have no excuse to not be extremely dynamic next season. Not that they are certain to be great but at the very least they should have a dynamic mix and creativity. One would think they will really look to add some playmakers on offense through the draft and FA but they still need parts on D too. As excited as I am about the staff that is being put together they still have a ways to go in building a real contender.

 

That's the key. Have to draft a WR in Round 1 or 2. And sign probably two in free agency. They also really need another offensive TE on the roster.

The Bear offense should have no excuse to not be extremely dynamic next season. Not that they are certain to be great but at the very least they should have a dynamic mix and creativity. One would think they will really look to add some playmakers on offense through the draft and FA but they still need parts on D too. As excited as I am about the staff that is being put together they still have a ways to go in building a real contender.

 

I'm feeling great right now.

 

Do you remember when we played the 49ers, and we gave em the Fangio special not letting them int he end zone but they were dominating us in yards? The 49ers have a bad WR core, but they were consistently open against us. We aren't a bad D. It was scheme. They finally had a QB smart enough to go through the reads and get it to the players.

 

So yeah I expect a better WR core but I also expect a better offense in general just by using numbers to get guys open.

The only thing that worries me is that there is way too much high praise of every hire the Bears have had so far. It cant all be true can it?

The only thing that worries me is that there is way too much high praise of every hire the Bears have had so far. It cant all be true can it?

 

I thought Fox's first staff was really good too, and it was. Just fell apart with Gase leaving. I don't think we had particularly bad oline/wr/rb coaches or anything, just made a bad hire in Loggains who maybe didn't feel comfortable asserting a more creative offense with Fox.

 

But I don't think Cleveland fans were that crazy about the ST coordinator, but we thought Decamillis was trash and the broncos looked amazing on ST in the superbowl. Unless you are toub, you are held to your roster imo.

But also I think it's more impressive just because Nagy is more of a wildcard being younger, and not knowing what mix of coaches he'd sign on. Too many vets and i'd be worried he'd just let them run over him. But Helfrich is really interesting to me.

I'm definitely intrigued by the Helfrich hire. Interesting move, for sure. He has never coached in the NFL, but that doesn't concern me too much. With all of the college stuff that NFL teams are now trying to incorporate into their offenses these days, I think adding some different influences can only help.

 

Also, I'm not sure if it has been officially reported that he's staying, but I thought I read that Dave Ragone was sticking around as QB coach. If that's true, we seem to be following what the Eagles did with Wentz. Hiring several experienced coaches, all of whom played the QB position, to work with our young QB. Nagy, Helfrich, and Ragone all played at the college and pro level (albeit, NFL Europe for Helfrich and AFL for Nagy).

 

I'm not saying you have to have played a position to coach it well - you certainly don't. However, the QB position is unique and the toughest in sports. I think there is certainly some benefit to your coaches knowing exactly what you're going through.

I'm especially high on the Helfrich hire because of its role. Helfrich isn't calling the plays, but he'll help install the offense. And from my extensive research into his wikipedia, seems like thats what his specialty is: teaching these great offenses from Koetter to Kelly to these players.

Thing in this I find irritating is this is Pace at the top and he has no other person to lean on because the CEO and President of the organization know nothing about football. This will always be a stumbling block for the Bears.

That's the key. Have to draft a WR in Round 1 or 2. And sign probably two in free agency. They also really need another offensive TE on the roster.

IIRC Albert Wilson and De'Anthony Thomas are both UFA's, albeit not very good players, just mediocre-solid.

The only thing that worries me is that there is way too much high praise of every hire the Bears have had so far. It cant all be true can it?

It's funny. I was just thinking about that. No matter what assistant coach/coordinator/HC is hired, the praise is always high, for any team. I remember the Trestman/Tucker/Kromer combo. I was PSYCHED for that trio.

IIRC Albert Wilson and De'Anthony Thomas are both UFA's, albeit not very good players, just mediocre-solid.

 

One of those two are likely given the familiarity with Nagy, I think Wilson is a good bet

I will talk myself into any positional coach hire, but the Tucker hire required just hoping that his top ten defense from Cleveland was what we were getting and not his pretty bad run from jacksonville he was just leaving.

 

It's okay to be neutral on Helfrich, but it's a lot easier when he's not actually calling the plays anyway. And to me the hire isn't that he is installing the Oregon offense. But my impression is he has a rep as a teacher and a QB focused coach, and I love giving trubisky as many resources as possible.

Jeff Hughes of DaBearsBlog reported Harry Hiestand yesterday. He posted Mark Helfrich as OC in the comments section on his site but only speculated on twitter. Mully and other beat guys have confirmed this morning. Helfrich addition would be fascinating.

Pretty sure I scooped Jeff Hughes.

Gruden looking at the Michigan QB coach. We threw 9 TDs all season. Take him.

Let's be honest, Harbaugh is Michigan's QB coach.

Latest reports have Fangio headed to Arizona to be DC under Shermer (sp?). This would mean Vic stringed Bears along (wouldn't surprise me) and would mean we have to put full court press on Arizona's current DC (who would be a stellar hire).

I actually prefer Arizona's d-coordinator. Arians supposedly urged Arizona F.O. to promote him to HC and not lose him. That's how much he values him. Plus he grew up a Bears fan.

Edited January 12, 20188 yr by SoxAce