Bear Digest

Key Bears coaching hunt taking the longest might be most crucial

Analysis: A trio of experienced, successful offensive line coach candidates is reportedly being considered by the Bears and the bottom line appears to be they win regardless of the outcome.

Gene Chamberlain

Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph may or may not get the Bears job but the options for Ben Johnson at this position are all solid.
Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph may or may not get the Bears job but the options for Ben Johnson at this position are all solid. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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There probably has never been so much anticipation over the hiring of a Bears offensive line coach.

The reason goes beyond it being one of the last major position coach hires, although the wait is definitely making Bears fan anticipation build. 

It's an important position but the main reason it's being so heavily scrutinized by fans is simply the failure of the offensive line to adequately protect quarterbacks over the last three seasons since Chris Morgan was coordinator.

Actually it goes a season beyond this as Juan Castillo was line coach for the first year of what has become a four-year stretch of quarterbacks being sacked at least 50 times.

While sack totals are not all on the offensive line, it's a huge part of the total. No doubt Caleb Williams' Bears record of 68 sacks taken in 2024 had something to do with his own issues running into the rush, not anticipating it or holding the ball too long. He even addressed this when he called the idea his line was to blame "stupid," at season's end.

They get the bulk of he blame, either way. Their function in the passing game is to protect Williams. He has enough to worry about without looking over his shoulder or running for his life.

The known candidates list makes it clear one offensive line coach especially should be considered a favorite and that's Tulane offensive line coach Dan Roushar. He is considered the favorite over two line coaches for the teams involved in the NCAA title game, Ohio State's Justin Frye and Notre Dame's Joe Rudolph.

While both Rudolph and Frye are definitely qualified to move into the NFL, it's Roushar's NFL experience that makes him a favorite and it is a link he has with several other coaches on the staff, like offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

He was the Saints' offensive line coach when they had Pro Bowl players like Larry Warford, Terron Armstead, Andrus Peat and Max Unger.

Any of the three would be outstanding choices, though. It's quite likely they'll be relying on some inexperience offensive linemen taken toward the top of the draft. So finding a line coach who also was excellent at teaching is key. Both Rudolph and Frye obviously have this as strengths, but so does Roushar because he had 27 seasons of college coaching experience before he started coaching for the Saints, including stints at Northern Illinois and Illinois.

His coaching experience is fairly diverse on offense as he coached running backs and tight ends for New Orleans before taking over the line.

No less an authority on line play than former Bears All-Pro center Olin Kreutz gave him a stamp of approval while appearing on WSCR's Spiegel & Holmes Show.

"Roushar, I hear a lot of good things about," Kreutz told Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes. "He is a really good football coach, a no-nonsense kind of guy who just wants to get in there and block people, I'm sure. Dan Campbell is the guy who called Ben Johnson and said this should be your guy, this should be your offensive line coach, this is the guy you need coaching your offensive line, getting that thing moving in the right direction."

The best part about Kreutz's analysis of the coaching situation is probably some of the questions he said they're likely to be asking the line coach, including how they handle short yardage situations. Someone should have asked that of Chris Morgan.

The Bears have become notorious for failure on short-yardage or goal-line plays, as the fumbled handoff to lineman Doug Kramer against Washington and pitchout wide to D'Andre Swift when they needed inches for a TD showed.

Campbell coached with Roushar coached with Campbell on the Saints staff before Campbell went to Detroit as head coach. It's an indirect connection to Johnson.

They probably couldn't go wrong either way. Last time they had a really successful season, their offensive line coach was someone who had once held Rudolph's current job, Harry Hiestand. Frye's offensive line might have been the most dominant aspect of the national title win by Ohio State.

The Bears can only be winners whichever way they turn but the interconnectivity between so many former Saints coaches doesn't hurt for building a cohesive team, one where they can mor easily build the accountability within the team the players have said they seek.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher 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.