Let’s be honest. The Bears have a lot to prove.
After interviewing a combined 23 candidates for their general manager and head coach jobs, they ended up hiring a first-time GM and a first-time head coach.
Oh, and a first-time play caller to work with quarterback Justin Fields.
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It’s definitely a leap of faith.
But one development that isn’t nearly as concerning is the fact that new Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is a former defensive coordinator. As the Bears learned with their last head coach, having an offensive-minded coach paired with a young quarterback isn’t always the best answer.
“I’ve always felt strongly about having a leader at the head coaching position,” new Bears general manager Ryan Poles told NBC Sports Chicago Monday. “I’ve done my research. I’ve talked to some really successful people in this league and just gotten that confirmation. If you can find both, that’s great. But the leadership position is what you need to look for and that’s why it was easy to pick Matt.”
Eberflus will have to prove that he’ll get the buy-in from the entire roster, but as it pertains to the quarterback, the structure of the coaching staff shouldn’t be a concern. Yes, in a perfect world, you find the best leader that also happens to be the guiding force on offense, but history has proven that isn’t the only way to win Super Bowls.
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“Being on the offense, you kind of know what the defense is doing, but you don’t know fully what they’re doing,” Fields said. “You know they’re running a certain type of coverage, but when you have a defensive head coach, he’s able to explain to you what their jobs are, what their certain assignments are in a certain coverage, so I think that’s one plus on having a defensive head coach.”
That is, as long as the head coach isn’t fully invested in calling the defense too. And that’s a huge box Eberflus checked Monday, making it clear that his defensive coordinator will call the defense.
“I do believe that to be the head football coach and be efficient at that, you are exactly the head football coach.” Eberflus said. “So I can be involved in all aspects of the game.”
That will allow Eberflus to pop into offensive meetings and provide the type of defensive insight Fields was talking about. You usually don’t have defensive coordinators in the quarterback room. There’s just not enough time. But in this case, Eberflus feels like he can help give Fields “a dual education,” as he told NBC Sports Chicago:
“So how can he learn the offensive system as we build this offensive system around him? But in the same regard, learn what the defense is trying to do to you, coverage wise, front wise, pressure wise? And what are the tells that I can give to the offensive staff, number one, and also give to the quarterback? So you're really learning Spanish and Latin at the same time.”
Meanwhile, new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will have full autonomy of the offense. He’s going to be solely focused on building the offense around Fields, without all the other distractions that come with being a head coach.
“I think it’s going to be awesome just having him solely just focus on the offense and getting that working, so I’m excited,” Fields said.
And in that regard, the bond between Fields and Getsy is going to be one of the most important relationships inside Halas Hall.
“It’s important for coaches to run plays that their players are good at running. They already have a base idea what my strengths are but me being able to communicate with them and tell them what my strengths are, we can get on the same page,” Fields said. “But there’s going to be some new stuff that we didn’t run last year that works and I’ve never run before that they’re going to want me to learn, so I’ll talk to them and see what they need me to do and see what they need me to learn and then work on that in the offseason. And by the time training camp comes around, I’ll know it.”
The Getsy-Fields pairing is one that has a lot of promise, and if that promise is met, then yes, Getsy will probably be an NFL head coach some time soon. And that's a problem the Bears would definitely be able to live with.
In the meantime, Ryan Poles has himself a head coach that can fully concentrate on being the head coach.
And that’s a change that was badly needed at Halas Hall.