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New-look Bears staff, Brown, Beatty, Jerry Rice’s Kid Stars at Senior Bowl Practice, and Other Bears Bullets

Luis C. Medina Luis C. Medina
Jan 31, 2024
Chicago Bears
Matt Eberflus Bears Coach

Are you happy with the Bears offseason coaching hires to this point? I keep asking myself this, so I figured I’d ask you, dear reader.

  • The Bears retaining Head Coach Matt Eberflus wasn’t a popular decision in many circles. For me, I wasn’t sure it was their best route. But I’ll give credit where it is due: Eberflus is building quite the staff around him this offseason. It might be better than the one he initially brought to Chicago. And it makes me wonder how things would’ve fared had he brought in a better collection of coaches his first time around.

  • ICYMI: Chicago’s football team has a new Passing Game Coordinator in Thomas Brown. You might recall Brown was calling plays for the Carolina Panthers last year. Or you might remember he was one of the nine candidates who interviewed for the Bears offensive coordinator position earlier in January. Kudos to Shane Waldron for his part in picking fruit off the Sean McVay tree. If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.

  • Maybe it’s just me, but it always felt that the volume of interviews the Bears were conducting was done in part to circle back to certain candidates and say even though we’ve filled the OC gig, we’d still like for you to have a gig on this staff — interested? And this is why it is important to be thorough in these searches. It never hurt anyone to put in a little extra work.

  • At some point later I’ll get around to reading this, but I figured I’d share now just to put it on your radar:

  • I love how this is a different kind of gig for Brown, who wasn’t put in a Running Backs Coach role like he had been in previous stops. In an ideal world, a gig as a Pass Game Coordinator could fast-track him to a head-coaching job in the future if the balls bounce his way. Maybe things move fast for Shane Waldron and he gets a head-coaching gig, which opens the door to those behind him to move up the pecking order.

  • Don’t get it twisted. I know I’m getting ahead of myself. But I want to point out now that the Bears have a better succession plan in place than they did when Luke Getsy was given the OC gig. Simply having another coach with prior play-calling experience is a step in the right direction when it comes to staff building.

  • Speaking of the former Bears OC, he continues to get interviews with teams looking to fill offensive coordinator vacancies. The New Orleans Saints (h/t Ian Rapoport) join the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots as teams who have brought in Getsy for a conversation. Unlike the Raiders and Patriots, I’m not sure if the Saints are doing recon work on Justin Fields. The Saints are more than $87 million OVER the projected 2024 NFL salary cap. So I’m not sure how they’d fit Fields into their equation. Maybe Head Coach Dennis Allen likes Getsy’s screen game.

  • In addition to hiring Thomas Brown, the Bears are just about set to hire Chris Beatty as their wide receivers coach. More on the Beatty hire from the Tribune, Sun-Times, 670 The Score, and NBC Sports Chicago.

  • Caleb Williams tweeting about Brenden Rice (the son of Jerry Rice) at the Senior Bowl:

  • There is a universe that exists where a team ends up with the sons of Marvin Harrison and Jerry Rice on their roster. I wonder if this universe is on that timeline. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

  • The NFL Draft is in 85 days. But if you’re more into NFL free agency, then you’d probably be glad to know that particular part of the league’s offseason opens up in 42 days. It’s always good to know what is on the calendar.

  • Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports that new Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh is getting $16 million per year. I hope the Bears’ resistance to change isn’t rooted in not wanting to pay coaches at the top of the market. Not only because that would be a foolish way to go about operating your business (sometimes, you have to spend money to make money) but also because we’ve seen the Bears spend $16 million in worse ways. Why not spend in an un-capped area?

  • With Ben Johnson staying in Detroit, it looks like next year’s coaching circuit will be extra lit. If the Bears put together a disappointing 2024, available coaches could be headlined by Johnson, Bill Belichick, and Mike Vrabel. And this doesn’t even account for who next year’s hotshot coordinators will be.

  • I can’t say I saw this bit of news coming from the baseball world:

  • Hmmm. I know a football team that has long been owned by a family with waning popularity and it makes me wonder if lighting can strike twice.

  • Are you reading The Bleacher Nation Newsletter? If not, then you should change that.

  • Just when you start allowing yourself to enjoy Chicago Bulls basketball again, they have a soul-crushing loss like the one last night to the Toronto Raptors.

  • Over at BN Blackhawks, Tab interviews a top Chicago Blackhawks prospect:

    • Read More

    written by

    Luis C. Medina

    Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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