Picking Through the Assistants

Analysis: Ranking the assistant coaches based on 16 weeks of Bears games in 2021, with an eye on who could be retained going forward

The Bears plunge into the final week of the season and not only is the final verdict to be delivered on Matt Nagy, but also his coaching staff.

Assistant coaches live such transitory lives anyway, so they all must shudder come Black Monday, the day after the regular season when firings so often occur.

Some assistants have more success than others. Some fail due to circumstance. Some are worth keeping for another regime even in the midst of defeat.

Defensive coordinator Sean Desai is a real rarity as a holdover from the Marc Trestman regime, not simply the John Fox regime. So it's obvious how highly he's been thought of within the Bears organization.

When the inevitable coaching change occurs, the new head coach will have a chance to pick among the assistants and possibly keep some.

Here's one man's ranking of the Bears assistants in lieu of the usual postgame Bears report card after Sunday's win, since there's no sense grading games for teams already eliminated with coaching staffs destined to be dismantled.

1. OLB Coach Bill Shuey

How else do you explain 31 1/2 sacks from outside linebackers this year after they lost Khalil Mack for the season following seven games. They probably only had Mack fully healthy for two games before he had to go out. His coaching of Robert Quinn and understanding of what Desai wanted to do helped pull off the sack record and also helped second-year outside linbeacker Trevis Gipson rise from being a healthy game-day scratch to contributing 6 1/2 sacks and three forced fumbles.

The NFL leader in sacks is not T.J. Watt or Myles Garrett or Nick Bosa or Micah Parsons...

It's Robert Quinn. pic.twitter.com/b8pV7PxHdW

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 2, 2022

2. Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai

He lost Mack in his first year performing this role and still had a pass rush without overcommitting to the blitz. He found ways to defend passes when they started backups and practice squad players at all positions. He had to cope with not having a legitimate left cornerback or slot cornerback all year thanks to GM Ryan Pace's mistakes. Don't look now but the Bears are a top five defense. Sure it's misleading because there is no way they have the league's fourth-best pass defense. However, if the Bears decided they're sticking with this same defensive scheme they could do much, much worse than keeping Desai as coordinator.

3. Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor

He had to be a head coach for a game, while at the same time cope with losing one of the league's best kick returners and both his punt gunners. The Bears have ranked high at kick and punt returns anyway. Cairo Santos remains a godsend after the shaky kicking of Eddy Piniero and the nightmare of Cody Parkey and Tabor held his kick coverage unit together despite constant turnover this year due to injuries and COVID.

4. Tight Ends Coach Clancy Barone

He knew how to bring Cole Kmet along slowly and after the same number of games as last season, their starting Y-tight end has twice as many receptions as last year with 56 while averaging 10.1 per catch, an improvement of 1.4 yards per catch. He hasn't had a TD, which is discouraging, but it does seem they have eyes only for Jimmy Graham in the red zone. As for Graham, under Barone's coaching he made 11 touchdown catches in two Bears regular seaso. When he had the benefit of Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback and was on a team with a dearth of experienced receivers in Green Bay, he still only had five TD catches in two seasons. So obviously Barone has had some impact on an aging tight end.

5. Offensive line Coach Juan Castillo

Aside from the quarterback changes, he had to deal with the most uncertainty on the staff. He had to take two rookie tackles and mold them as backups, contend with injuries or COVID-19 to every single one of the top five tackles, and held the line in place. He has inserted an undrafted free agent center over the last two years and had positive results. On the down side, they have allowed far too many sacks and failed to marry up the running game's zone blocking scheme with the shotgun much of the time. Castillo's strict adherence to the importance of fundamentals makes him someone to consider for any new head coach, especially if they decide they need to let right guard James Daniels and right tackle Germain Ifedi leave in free agency. Castillo would get more young linemen up and ready by doing it "over and over and over" again in practice.

6. RB Coach Michael Pitre

A new coach this year, he was left trying to take Khalil Herbert from rookie sixth-rounder to starter while David Montgomery and Damien Williams were both injured. It's not an easy assignment in this offense.

7. QB Coach John DeFilippo

There was progress made by Justin Fields even if he didn't step right in as a rookie and excel as Justin Herbert and Mac Jones seem to have done. Fields' progress on a monthly basis numerically exists, and he meets the eye test because he obviously reacts faster to what he's seeing. DeFilippo's main task was getting Fields ready fundamentally and both his ability to avoid fumbling and to step up in the pocket as he is going to throw need to improve. His footwork can get better. Obviously he needs to get rid of the ball quicker or his sack percentage wouldn't be significantly higher than the other QBs who have played.

8. Offensive Coordinator Bill Lazor

It would be interesting to see how he would be as an OC for a team with a head coach who actually called plays well. Lazor's strength seems to be organizing and preparing the game plans rather than calling plays and he was thrust into this role because Nagy couldn't call plays.

9. ILB Coach Bill McGovern

Roquan Smith was more effective stopping the run last year before McGovern had this job. Smith was in the backfield more then, picking up TFLs. It had to be difficult for McGovern considering he had to use a street free agent signed in preseason as a starter, Alec Ogletree. They never really had the Danny Trevathan of years gone by and probably never will again. Still, the run defense has been porous all year and inside linebacker play hasn't been as effective as in the past. Struggling run defense might be part of the reason Smith didn't get Pro Bowl status.

10. Defensive Line Coach Chris Rumph

There have been rumors he is headed to Florida to be an assistant so his rank seems a moot point. However, the Bears may not have realized the impact Jay Rodgers had on their defensive line until they didn't have him this year. He was always very good working with Eddie Goldman, but Goldman had a sub-par year returning from COVID-19. Bilal Nichols enjoyed a better overall 2018-2020 under Rodgers than in 2021, as well.

11. Wide Receivers Coach Mike Furrey

The last time NFL NextGen stats came out with a separation metric, Bears receivers ranked last in the NFL. Their ability to avoid dropped passes decreased significantly this year, as well. Furrey deserves credit for the great development of Darnell Mooney. However, the unusual drive Mooney has exhibited might have made him successful anyway. Furrey also was saddled with a group of undistinguished wide receivers after his top two, and did what he could. Still, it wasn't enough.

12. DBs Coach Deshea Townsend

A truly likeable guy and not without coaching skills but someone needs to take the fall for one interception by this team's cornerbacks for each of the last two seasons. The Bears have Mike Adams on staff as a safeties coach this year but that is more as an understudy coaching spot as Townsend oversees all DBs. Eddie Jackson hasn't had an interception since 2019 and his tackling was constantly criticized in the first half of the year, but the safeties overall performed well despite constant shuffling due to injuries and COVID-19. Deon Bush and DeAndre Houston-Carson remained viable fill-ins and they also found someone capable in contributing in Teez Tabor.

8️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ wins & counting.

Here's to the next 800. pic.twitter.com/HSsgkjpccV

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 3, 2022

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven