The Chicago Bears’ search for a defensive coordinator happened so quickly, you missed it if you blinked. But in case you blinked, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.
We have hired Chuck Pagano as our defensive coordinator.
Welcome to Chicago, Coach!#DaBears pic.twitter.com/WnkuXLkf3I
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 12, 2019
Chuck Pagano has been hired as the Bears’ defensive coordinator. He replaces Vic Fangio, who inherited a historically bad defense and helped build the league’s best unit before leaving to take the Denver Broncos’ head-coaching position. Pagano emerged as an early favorite for the DC job and interviewed for it earlier on Friday. He must have knocked it out of the park to get the gig on the same day. Impressive. Most impressive.
You know what else is impressive? Pagano’s résumé, which we detailed here. Dude’s a good one.
Pagano took off the 2018 season after being fired as the Indianapolis Colts head coach, but emerged as a hot commodity during this hiring cycle. The Broncos and Packers reportedly interviewed Pagano for their head-coaching vacancies, while the Panthers, Cardinals, and Browns interviewed or reached out showing interest at some point during the offseason. Pagano definitely had his choice of plum gigs and choosing the Bears makes me feel good about the direction of the program.
Bears GM Ryan Pace issued a statement in conjunction with the announcement of the hire:
“We are excited to add Chuck to our staff as Defensive Coordinator. He has successful experience at many different levels in this league and he is a great teacher with an aggressive mentality that fits our style of football. He is a man of high character and has a passion for the game that will no doubt add to the culture we already started at Halas Hall.”
Pace hits all the right notes in buzzword bingo. Experience. Teacher. Aggressive. High character. Passion. Culture. It all sounds good right now.
Head Coach Matt Nagy also shared the love:
“We are excited to add Chuck to our staff as defensive coordinator. He has successful experience at many different levels in this league and he is a great teacher with an aggressive mentality that fits our style of football. He is a man of high character and has a passion for the game that will no doubt add to the culture we have already started building at Halas Hall.”
Now that the hiring is official, we have some stuff to unpack in the next few days as we examine the new guy. At first blush, the Bears did well to bring in someone with experience and a track record of success when their focus is on one side of the ball. We’ll see what we can unearth in the next couple of days as we try to get a better feel for the guy who takes over for a good and popular coordinator.
Alright, everyone point out the new guy.