The Bears made a staff move Monday that will surely have a lot of people in the NFL universe connecting dots. Chicago has promoted John DeFilippo to be passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the team announced. He had previously just been QBs coach, and replaces Dave Ragone after he left to be Atlanta’s new OC. The promotion is eyebrow-raising because the Bears are reported to be pursuing Carson Wentz, and DeFilippo has an extensive history with the embattled Eagles quarterback.
DeFilippo, of course, was Wentz’s quarterbacks coach for his breakout 2017 season when the Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl. He also coached Wentz during his rookie season before the Super Bowl earned him the job of Vikings offensive coordinator. He immediately clashed with Mike Zimmer, and was fired by Minnesota midway through the 2018 season. He was then hired as Jacksonville’s OC for 2019, and was fired after the season when he couldn’t recapture the magic he had previously with Nick Foles. The Bears making this move will do nothing to decrease the chatter about them acquiring Wentz, and now we wait.
Here’s more from the coaching ranks:
- Washington DBs coach Chris Harris was the runnerup for the Packers’ DC job that went to Joe Barry and is a name to watch for other openings, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. As Breer points out, he’s still only 38. Harris spent eight years in the league as a safety from 2005-12, and got his first coaching gig as a defensive quality control coach with the Bears in 2013.
- DeFilippo isn’t the only coach who got a promotion on Monday, as the Browns announced they were promoting Ben Bloom to be their new defensive run game coordinator. Bloom spent the 2020 season as a general defensive assistant with Cleveland, and clearly impressed. He was previously the linebackers coach of the Cowboys from 2018-19.
- The Chiefs lost the Super Bowl on Sunday, and they’re also losing a staff member. Kansas City running backs coach Deland McCullough is leaving to become an associate head coach at Indiana University, sources told FootballScoop (Twitter link). The news was confirmed in a subsequent tweet from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who notes that McCullough’s ultimate goal is to become a college head coach.
- The Bears made another recent shuffling of Matt Nagy’s staff, hiring Michael Pitre to be the new running backs coach, Adam Rittenberg of ESPN tweets. Pitre had been the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon State. He’ll replace Charles London, who left Chicago along with Ragone to be the new quarterbacks coach with the Falcons.
More must-reads: