After nearly a week away from the team, Alan Williams resigned as Bears defensive coordinator on Wednesday. In a statement, Williams said he needed to step away from the game to focus on his health and his family. Once he addresses his health, Williams plans to coach again.
In the interim, head coach Matt Eberflus will call plays on defense in addition to carrying out all the duties that fall on a head coach on game day. During the week, Eberflus will still split his time evenly between offense and defense, and will rely on his veteran defensive position coaches to fill in the gaps.
In the short term it can work. The Bears defense marginally improved from Week 1 to Week 2 with Eberflus running the show. He dialed up more blitzes and the defense was able to pressure Baker Mayfield more than they pressured Jordan Love in Week 1. The defense rallied to only allow seven points in the second half.
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In the long term they’ll probably need another DC. Eberflus doesn’t believe the vacancy will hurt the team now, however at some point they’ll need someone leading the unit and fully dedicated to leading the unit. And one person is needed to organize things at the top rather than having a committee of coaches piece together a gameplan while they also carry out their duties as position coaches.
Some coaches have run their teams for extended periods of time without coordinators. Bill Belichick hasn’t had an official DC since Matt Patricia left in 2017. Kyle Shanahan has gone periods without an OC. Sean McVay worked without an OC for a couple of years. Kliff Kingsbury also didn’t use an OC. In the 80s, Tom Landry didn’t have an OC for a long time with the Cowboys and Don Shula didn’t have an OC for a long time with the Dolphins. In most of these cases a head coach was already extremely well established. In other cases, things didn’t work out well and the head coach was either fired, or ended up hiring a coordinator in following years.
It’s unclear if and when the Bears will open up that search. If it happens soon, it feels likely that it will happen from within. Here are a couple of names to keep in mind if the team goes that route:
JON HOKE
NFL
Hoke currently works as the team’s cornerbacks coach. He has 18 years of NFL coaching experience and has worked as a DC at the college level at Florida, South Carolina and Maryland. Hoke has earned praise from players like Tyrique Stevenson for a tough coaching style that helped him prepare to start as a rookie. Hoke also coached players like Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings in his first stint with the team from 2009-2014. If the Bears promote Hoke, trusted assistant defensive backs coach David Overstreet could be ready to take over as the cornerbacks coach.
ANDRE CURTIS
Curtis is the Bears safeties coach. He has 17 years of NFL coaching experience and has worked as a defensive passing game coordinator with the Seahawks. Last season Eddie Jackson gave Curtis some credit for helping him return to form as a ballhawk and for helping him improve his tackling technique. Again, Overstreet could be a candidate to fill in as the new safeties coach if Curtis is promoted.
If the team waits, the search could open up to people outside the organization. Without speculating who may be fired after this season, here are some coaches who are free and available to coach now.
ROD MARINELLI
Marinelli retired after the 2022 season, but one would imagine Eberflus would at least give him a call to see if he’s interested in unretiring. Eberflus worked on Marinelli’s Cowboys staff as a linebackers coach and has named Marinelli as one of his biggest mentors and influences several times. Marinelli is as experienced as they come in the type of defense Eberflus runs and even worked with the Bears as Lovie Smith’s assistant coach from 2009-2012.
LESLIE FRAZIER
Like Williams, Frazier stepped away from coaching ahead of the 2023 season with the stated intention of returning to coaching in 2024. If he still wants to return, and if the Bills want to move in a different direction, the Bears should look into bringing him on board. Frazier has an incredible amount of experience in Eberflus’ system and helped build up the Bills into one of the most formidable defenses in the league. Further, he worked with Tremaine Edmunds and helped Edmunds become a premiere pass defending linebacker. Of course, Frazier has ties to Chicago as a member of the beloved ‘85 Bears. Frazier suffered a career-ending injury in Super Bowl XX so he didn’t finish the game, but he led the team with six interceptions that season.
LOVIE SMITH
Smith did the Bears a solid by winning his last game as the Houston Texans head coach– and handing the Bears the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft. Is he ready to come back to help them some more? The defense Smith ran while he was the head coach of the Bears from 2004-2012 is similar to Eberflus’ defense, and Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. principles include the same loafs Smith handed out when he was in Chicago. The two coaches seem to see the game the same way, so there shouldn’t be any question about fit. The offensive struggles under Smith’s watch kept them from their ultimate goal, but he led some of the best defenses in franchise history. He’s got undeniable success in the scheme.