Bear Digest

Ben Johnson hires safeties coach with link to a bit of Bears history

The Bears have a safeties coach with experience working under Dennis Allen as a player and coach and also with a link to a historic moment for the Chicago Bears and NFL.

Gene Chamberlain

Matt Giordano (27), the new Bears safeties coach, was a defensive back on the Raiders when Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was Raiders head coach.
Matt Giordano (27), the new Bears safeties coach, was a defensive back on the Raiders when Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was Raiders head coach. / Frank Victores-Imagn Images
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The Bears have finalized their coaching staff and the new safeties coach is Matt Giordano, which should surprise no one beause of his past ties to defensive coordinator Dennis Allen as a coach and player.

He also owns a very small place in Bears history. Giordano is the former Colts defensive back who chased after Devin Hester in Super Bowl XLI on the opening kickoff and then finally knocked the Bears Hall of Famer to the ground in the end zone by diving. It was too little, too late to prevent a historic score, the first TD return with an opening kick in the Super Bowl.

For a few weeks almost all the staff has been known through reports but the safeties coach wasn't known. The team released their entire staff to the public on Thursday.

Giordano shouldn't be a surprise because he is yet another defensive side coach with ties to Allen's New Orleans Saints defense.

Giordano is a former NFL defensive back for the Colts, Packers, Falcons, Raiders, Rams and Saints. He played as a DB for the Saints defense in 2008 when Allen was a defensive backs coach and with the Raiders as a DB when Allen was Raiders head coach in 2012.

Giordano had been a high school coach but moved up to volunteer assistant at Fresno State in 2022 and then became an assistant secondary coach with the Saints under Allen in 2023. His title with the Bears is actually assistant defensive backs/safeties.

There were a few other position coaches added when the team announced its full staff.

They have hired Anthony Blevins as the new special teams assistant coach under coordinator Richard Hightower. Blevins is an NFL coaching veteran who has been in the league since 2013 coaching defensive backs, linebackers and special teams.

He was a special teams assistant for the Cardinals from 2013-17, the for the Giants from 2018-19, before getting moved to assistant defensive backs coach for the Giants the next year and then special teams assistant again for the Giants in 2021 and 20222.

He was a defensive assistant for the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL in 2024.

Also, Kevin Koch, who was a quality control coach, has become the assistant linebackers coach under linebackers coach and Matt Aponte's earlier reported hiring was actually for an offensive quality control position and not assistant quarterbacks coach.

The strength and conditioning staff has added Allison Haley as an assistant strength and conditioning coach while promoting Pierre Ngo to head strength and conditioning coach.

Chicago Bears 2024 Coaches

Head coach: Ben Johnson

Defensive coordinator: Dennis Allen

Offensive coordinator: Declan Doyle

Special teams coordinator: Richard Hightower

Assistant head coach/wide receivers: Antwaan Randle El

Passing game coordinator: Press Taylor

Defensive passing game coordinator/DBs: Al Harris

Quarterbacks: J.T. Barrett

Offensive assistant/QBs and WRs: Robbie Picazo

Running backs: Eric Bieniemy

Offensive line: Dan Roushar

Offensive line assistant: Kyle DeVan

Tight ends: Jim Dray

Defensive line: Jeremy Garrett

Senior defensive assistant/defensive line: Bill Johnson

Linebackers: Richard Smith

Linebackers assistant: Kevin Koch

DBs/safeties assistant: Matt Giordano

Defensive assistant/nickel backs: Cannon Matthews

Special teams assistant: Anthony Blevins

Offensive quality control: Matt Aponte

Offensive quality control: Zach Cable

Defensive quality control: Kenny Norton III

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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.