Bears Hire Former Bills Line Coach Juan Castillo

According to an NFL Network report, the Bears have hired former Bills offensive line coach and running game coordinator Juan Castillo to coach their offensive linemen.

They barely had time to clean out Harry Hiestand's office.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Bears have turned to someone familiar with coach Matt Nagy and hired Juan Castillo as their new offensive line coach. Hiestand was just fired on Tuesday.

Castillo was on the same Eagles staff as Nagy under Andy Reid from 2008-2012, and was an offensive assistant until 2011, when he became defensive coordinator for two seasons. Andy Reid fired him in mid-October of 2012 before the entire staff was fired at the end of the year.

Most recently, Castillo was the the offensive line coach and running game coordinator for Sean McDermott with the Buffalo Bills in 2017 and 2018 and was fired after the 2018 season. The Bills were sixth in rushing in 2017 and ninth in 2018.

Castillo was with the Eagles from 2005-12 and the Baltimore Ravens from 2013-16 before joining the Bills.

The Bears haven't officially announced the hiring so it isn't clear whether he is a running game coordinator and line coach or just the line coach.

The running attack struggled greatly lsat year and finished 29th in yards per rushing attempt at 3.7. They were 27th overall in rushing yards.

The 45 sacks allowed by the Bears last year were the most they've given up since 2011.

"We struggled in that area this year," general manager Ryan Pace said Tuesday when assessing the O-line.  "That's real. I think we know it starts up front with those guys.

"That's something we really got to look at from a personnel standpoint. From a schematic standpoint we're going to look at it. That was real this year. That hurt us."

The biggest issues facing Castillo on the line are finding an adequate right guard, deciding whether James Daniels is a guard or center, and getting left tackle Charles Leno Jr. to stop committing penalties. 

The Bears would appear to be in the market for a right guard since it appears they are about to let Kyle Long leave by not picking up his option.

The Bears still must name an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and could also hire another special teams assistant to replace Chris Tabor's former assistant, Brock Olivo. They also fired Olivo on Tuesday.

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