Bears News: Eberflus rounds out coaching staff with a trio of hires |
To say the Chicago Bears coaching staff has gone through a complete makeover would be an understatement. After firing Alan Williams during the season and then parting ways with Luke Getsy after the season, the Bears coaching staff needed both an offensive and defensive coordinator.
Ed Washington was selected as the team's defensive coordinator, but with Eberflus expected to call the plays again, there haven't been many other moves for the defensive coaching staff. That can't be said about the offensive side of the ball, as the offensive staff looks completely different this season. That all started with Shane Waldron being hired as the team's offensive coordinator after holding that role for Seattle for three seasons. Waldron wanted to put one of the most complex and more diverse staff together, and right from the start, you could see that plan taking shape. While he has been in charge of making most of the offensive coaching hires, Eberflus has had some say and elected to add three more coaches to this year's staff, with two coming on the defensive side. All of them will hold various roles with the skill positions as the Bears hope to build off their strong finish in 2023 and carry that into 2024. The first coach we are going to talk about is Ryan Griffin who is taking his position with the quarterbacks and WRs this season. A former QB himself in 2013-14 with the Saints before latching on with the Buccaneers in 2015-2022, Griffin was primarily a practice squad or third-string player. He appeared in one career regular season game where he went 2-4 for 18 yards. Griffin was one of those players who had the opportunity to play for the city he went to college, as he was an undrafted pickup by the Saints from Tulane. It's still being determined what his exact role will be, but Waldron will put a ton of faith in him to work with who is under center this season to get the most out of them.
The other coach being brought into the mix is Bryan Bing, who will join Washington's staff as the Assistant Defensive Line Coach. Like Eberflus, Bing has spent time with the Colts as he was a defensive assistant with the Colts last season. Given how that defense performed at times, Bing was recognized as one of the assistants who helped get them to that level and thus earned an excellent promotion ahead of this season.
One thing that only a few know about Bing is that he was part of the Tony Dungy Diversity Coaching Fellows Program. That program is aimed at getting more minority coaches into the league and helps them land bigger coaching jobs down the road. Chicago has done a great job of adding diversity coaches this season, as they have more than five of those said hires on this year's staff. I'm not saying those coaches aren't worth the opportunity, but for a league that has historically struggled to bring in minority coaches, this is a great sign.
Before his work with the Colts, Bing served as the defensive line coach for the Butler Bulldogs in 2018 and Wofford College in 2021-22.
He was a graduate assistant at Heidelberg University in 2016, Kent State in 2017, and Pittsburgh from 2019 to 20. While the coaching journey is less diverse than you would like, Bing is a former player, which is becoming the norm in today's game.
The former Methodist University LB recorded 316 tackles during his time in school and was also a two-time All-South Region selection. Bing also took home USA South Athletic Conference honors three times as his play backed it up. Granted, neither one of these hires will get people excited; they are part of the Bears plan to build up the best coaching staff possible.
Matt Pees will be rounding out the Bears 2024 coaching staff, as he will be taking over as a defensive analyst. Hired on Monday, Pees has five years of NFL coaching experience with the Titans and Falcons as he was the Titans Quality Control Coach in 2018-19 before taking over as the Falcons defensive assistant from 2021-23.
In between those stops, Pees served as a high school coach in Ohio, as football has always been in his blood. He is also the son of longtime NFL defensive coordinator Dean Pees, so look for Matt to bring some of what his dad has taught him into the analytical side of defense.
