The nature of the NFL teaches us that nothing is official until it’s officially official.
Bears fans know this all too well with Dave McGinnis. Or, heck, new Bears coach Matt Eberflus ended up in Indy, in part, because Josh McDaniels took the Colts job — only to back out and go back to the Pats. And, more recently, we can look to Jim Harbaugh’s situation as an example of things falling apart at the ten yard line.
Long story short, I breathe a little easier whenever the Bears lock things in with coaches they have a connection to on the rumor mill. Just as they did with these three coaches today:
We have hired Tyke Tolbert as our passing game coordinator & WRs coach, David Overstreet II as our assistant DBs coach, and Andrew Janocko as our QBs coach.https://t.co/gFCXmUiZtr
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) February 3, 2022
The Bears announced a trio of hirings, making it officially official that Tyke Tolbert, David Overstreet II, and Andrew Janocko are joining head coach Matt Eberflus’ staff for 2022.
Janocko comes over from the Minnesota Vikings, where he had been coaching since 2015. His most recent experience was as the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach, where he saw Kirk Cousins put up another season of 4,000+ passing yards and 30+ touchdowns. Moving forward, he’ll be the QBs Coach for Justin Fields (and the rest of the room). Previously, Janocko worked his way up through various roles including multiple years coaching offensive linemen, as well as a stint as a wide receivers coach in 2020 during Justin Jefferson’s rookie season. Janocko also has an odd Bears connection, having played for former Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt while at the University of Pittsburgh. All while Luke Getsy, the Bears’ new offensive coordinator, was a graduate assistant. Small world!
Joining Janocko on the offensive staff is Tyke Tolbert, who gets the titles of WRs Coach and Passing Game Coordinator. That’s a nice step up in titles for a long-time NFL assistant. Tolbert, 54, has been coaching NFL receivers since 2003. He has had his hands on the likes of Anquan Boldin, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Sterling Shepard, and Darius Slayton — all as rookies. This is a worthwhile distinction to note, considering that the Bears could be in the market to draft some receivers this spring. After all, Darnell Mooney is the only pass-catcher under contract for 2022. So, it would be nice to have a coach with a track record of developing young talent at the position.
The Overstreet addition is a unique one. Chicago doesn’t have a cornerbacks or safeties coach on its roster, but is bringing in Overstreet with the Assistant Defensive Backs Coach title. Overstreet has spent the last four years with the Colts, working as a Defensive Quality Control Coach (2018-20) and Assistant DBs (2021). And long before that, Overstreet was a four-year starting safety at Missouri — where he played for Eberflus when he was the Tigers’ defensive coordinator. That’s pretty neat.
Keep the hirings rolling! There are still staff spots to fill. And we’re tracking them here.