Andrew Janocko Adds to Shanahan Factor

New Bears quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko was working alongside Shanahan offensive proponents even before new Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was exposed to this type of attack.

USA Today

The Bears have hired the coach who will work most closely with Justin Fields and it's probably not a name on the tip of everybody's tongues heading into the process of building a staff under new head coach Matt Eberflus.

Former Vikings quarterbacks coach Andrew Jonocko has been hired to work with Justin Fields, as the Bears also announced the hiring of assistant defensive backs coach David Overstreet II and passing game coordinator/receivers coach Tyke Tolbert.

Jonocko did work in an offense with the Shanahan style like the one new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is expected to use. 

Janocko had been with the Vikings since 2015 as first an offensive quality control coach for two seasons, then assistant offensive line coach and wide receivers coach in 2020.

Janocko's exposure to the Shanahan style offense goes deeper than many assistants because he was on staff with the Vikings when Kevin Stefanski was offensive coordinator and both Rick Dennison and Gary Kubiak were assistants. Both were working under Mike Shanahan when the offensive system was forming with Denver during its Super Bowl years with John Elway as quarterback.

Cousins posted a 103.1 passer rating last year while working with Janocko, a decline from the 107.4 he had in 2019 and 105.0 in 2020. His yards per attempt also declined from 8.3 in 2020 and 8.1 in 2019 to 7.5. However, he also posted the lowest interception rate of his career at 1.2% while working with Janocko.

As a player, Janocko was a backup quarterback for Pittsburgh and in 2010 he was at the school when new Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was a grad assistant coach with the team.

Janocko's first season in the NFL was with Tampa Bay in 2012 and he was an offensive assistant there two years before a season coaching quarterbacks for Mercyhurst, and then returning to the NFL with the Vikings. When he was with the Vikings, he was coaching receivers during Justin Jefferson's rookie season.

Tolbert has been in the NFL 19 years and the past four seasons was the wide receivers coach for the Giants, a position he also held for Buffalo, Carolina, Arizona and Denver.

Tolbert helped in the development of receivers Darius Slayton. He has worked with Odell Beckham Jr., Emmanuel Sanders, the late Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Wes Welker.

Overstreet is another Colts defensive coach to come over with Eberflus. Defensive coordinator Alan Williams and linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi also came over with Eberflus from the Colts. Overstreet was there four seasons but his first as a defensive backs assistant was 2021. He had been defensive quality control coach from 2018-20.

The Bears still do not have a special teams coordinator. They had interviewed Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey but he remained in New York under Brian Daboll. They also interviewed Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia and he is no longer with Las Vegas but remains in the running for the head coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The team still lists on its website several lower level coaches as being on the staff as holdovers from the Matt Nagy regime, like quality control coach Henry Burris, assistant receivers coach Chris Jackson, assistant special teams coach Brian Ginn, defensive line coach Chris Rumph, defensive quality control coach Shane Toub, offensive quality control /assistant quarterbacks coach Mike Snyder, secondary coach Deshea Townsend and defensive quality control coach Ronell Williams.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven