Dave Borgonzi Has Ties to Cardinals Coach

Bears linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi will interview with Arizona for defensive coordinator according to an ESPN report.
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The Bears coaching staff has been fairly well insulated, possibly by defeat.

Teams with really bad records don't usually have coach staff members in great demand when new staffs are forming around the league.

However, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi will be interviewed for the Cardinals defensive coordinator position per a report by ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Borgonzi came to the Bears with Matt Eberflus from Indianapolis, where he was the position coach in charge of developing Shaq Leonard. Last year with the Bears, the linebackers endured the loss of Roquan Smith in a trade with Baltimore and still had solid production from undrafted free agent Jack Sanborn and from free agent Nicholas Morrow.

There is good familiarity between Borgonzi and new Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, the former Eagles defensive coordinator. Gannon was on the Colts staff under Eberflus as the defensiv ebacks coach from 2018-20 before getting the chance to move up and become Eagles defensive coordinator under Nick Sirianni.

Borgonzi got more exposure around the league during the 2023 Senior Bowl by helping Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who served as head coach for the American team.

Borgonzi was an assistant with Dallas both on offense and defense from 2011-13 and defensive quality control coach for Tampa Bay from 2014-17, before becoming linebackers coach in the NFL for the first time with the Colts.

Gannon told reporters in Arizona on Thursday that he hasn't decided whether he'll continue calling plays on defense or will turn this over to his defensive coordinator.

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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.