Fritz Pollard Alliance Group Provides List of New Coaching Candidates and Other Bullets

Dec 07, 2017

Remember when the first trailer for the latest installment of the Star Wars saga was unveiled at halftime of Mitch Trubisky’s debut on Monday Night Football?

Those were brighter days.

The latest trailer for “The Last Jedi” dropped earlier today and I’m excited about it.

In VIII days, see Star Wars: #TheLastJedi.

Get tickets now: https://t.co/6vE5KUSv1f pic.twitter.com/kb1NeHFITQ

— Star Wars (@starwars) December 7, 2017

It’ll be nice to have something to be excited about this winter and take our minds off another losing season at Soldier Field. And I’m at a point where I’ll take all the small victories that I can.

And if you’re really looking forward a galaxy far, far away, preferably one where the Bears are winning more than losing, Bryan Perez of BearsWire writes the team’s next coach could be on the Fritz Pollard Alliance list. The Fritz Pollard Alliance is a diversity group that works with the NFL regarding its hiring practices. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network shared the list, which includes a pair of defensive coordinators in the NFC North – Teryl Austin of the Detroit Lions and George Edwards of the Minnesota Vikings.

Austin was in the group of candidates who could be considered to replace John Fox that we discussed on Wednesday. He’ll be one of the most popular names on the market this offseason, but as with any defensive-minded coach, the quality of the offensive assistants he can bring in to tutor Mitch Trubisky will likely be the Bears’ top priority.

With Trubisky’s development in mind, I found comments from Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis regarding rookie quarterbacks (via Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic) very interesting. Lewis has been in Cincinnati for so long, he has had two relatively high-profile rookies to coach with Carson Palmer and Andy Dalton. Reading what Lewis said about having to develop Dalton after the lockout-shortened training camp really opened my eyes: “We had no offseason, so everything from the start of training camp was all about Andy, so I think that helped him and Jay Gruden was the offensive coordinator at the time and did an outstanding job of bringing Andy along to where he is and Hue (Jackson) and Kenny Zampese, who was involved with him all the way through, so he’s had really good coaches and a stable environment that way that’s been really helpful to him.”

The Bears didn’t afford Trubisky the kind of opportunity Dalton was given because training camp wasn’t all about him. Instead, the Bears’ coaching staff was splitting time between starter Mike Glennon and backup Mark Sanchez, both of whom were brand new to the offense. I suppose it also helped that Gruden and Jackson were good enough instructors to land head coaching jobs. All the little things add up when it comes to quarterback development.

I wonder if we’d look at Trubisky’s development differently had the team pulled out that game against the Detroit Lions back in Week 11. We’ll never know what would’ve happened if Connor Barth had nailed that kick. However, we do know the kicker Barth replaced was the NFC’s Special Teams Player of the Week. Meanwhile, another ex-Bear, Josh McCown, was the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week.

Pass protection will be at a premium over the final four games of the season. And with Kyle Long on injured reserve, the interior of the offensive line will have its hands full against the Bengals, Lions, Browns, and Vikings. So while things didn’t go great against the 49ers, the team still has one reliable interior lineman putting in good work. Josh Sitton earned a spot on Pro Football Focus’ Team of the Week for his efforts against San Francisco. Sitton earned a team-best 87.2 grade and allowed no pressures on his 20 pass-blocking snaps. His overall pass-blocking grade (81.7) is the 12th best among guards, according to PFF.

The Bears will definitely miss the guard who starts opposite of Sitton. JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago writes about the appreciation Bears teammates have for long toughing it out in 2017. Shutting Long down seems like a move that had the greater good of the player and team in mind. Long is expected to be an important part of the 2018 team and getting his health squared away is of obvious importance to the team in that regard, but also to the player. The three-time Pro Bowl lineman hasn’t been fully healthy quite some time and played at a high level despite fighting through at least five known injuries.

The Bengals are battling injuries, too. First-round rookie receiver John Ross has been placed on IR with a shoulder injury, according to Ian Rapoport. Ross played three games and had just one touch – which resulted in a lost fumble.

A pair of former Bears were enshrined in College Football’s Hall of Fame, as Brian Urlacher and Adrian Peterson (no, not that Adrian Peterson) were inducted earlier in the week. We already know Urlacher’s back story, so let’s re-visit Adrian Nicholas Peterson, who played eight seasons for the Bears after being a sixth-round pick in 2002. He held the Division I rushing record upon leaving Georgia Southern, winning the Walter Payton Award (handed out to the most oustanding player in Division 1-AA football) in 1999. He also finished in the top-3 in votes for the Payton Award in each of his four college football seasons. When it was all said and done, Peterson averaged 6.6 yards per carry, 160.4 yards per game, and gained 9,145 rushing yards in his career.

Don’t believe me? Here are some highlights:

written by

Luis C. Medina

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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