Sean Desai Promoted to Bears Defensive Coordinator

Longtime quality control and safeties coach has moved up the ladder to head up Bears defense after Chuck Pagano's retirement

The Bears went through a thorough process and decided to stay within the house for their next defensive coordinator as the job was given to safeties coach Sean Desai.

Desai has been held in high esteem at Halas Hall and is the rare defensive assistant who has been with one team through three different coaching staffs. He came to the Bears in 2013 as a quality control coach under Marc Trestman and then lasted on staff through the John Fox regime while working under Vic Fangio. 

"He is a person of high football intelligence, extremely detail oriented, has a very strong work ethic and I cannot think of someone more deserving to lead our defense," Bears coach Matt Nagy said in a statement issued by the team. "Sean is a family man of high character and the respect he has within our building from coaches, players and staff is unparalleled.”

The problem with Desai is he lacks much experience even if he is a longtime Bears assistant.

Until last season, Desai had never even been a position coach. He always had been in quality control

The Bears made Desai safeties coach in 2019 after reportedly denying Fangio the chance to talk to him about coming to Denver as an assistant.

Bears safety Eddie Jackson hasn't flourished since that move, although this could be coincidental.

Desai has been a football coach since 2006, when he spent five seasons as a defensive and special teams coach at Temple. Desai's special teams led the nation in kick returns in 2008, averaging 26.6 yards per return including two kickoff return touchdowns.

He stayed in college football until coming to the Bears and was an assistant director of football operations at Miami in 2011 and a running backs coach and special teams coodinator at Boston College prior to his arrival in Chicago.

Desai earned his doctorate in educational administration at Temple in May 2008.

Promoting Desai does give the Bears continuity with their scheme and with the staff. They need to replace only defensive line coach Jay Rodgers, who has gone to Los Angeles to be on the staff of Brandon Staley with the Chargers.

Earlier in the week, former Bears linebacker Sam Acho had put out a solid endorsement for Desai via social media as being a coach who deserved the job.

Desai was chosen over Rodgers, who had been considered. Former Bears player Mike Singletary, former Vikings defensive coordinator George Edwards, Colts defensive backs coach Jonathan Gannon and newly hired Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn were among the coaches considered besides Desai, according to reports.

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