Bears Promote from Within

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears have filled their vacancy at linebacker’s coach by promoting their defensive assistant Lloyd Lee. Lee has been with the Bears organization for four years now, and he is extremely familiar with the Bears’ defensive system. That familiarity with the system is likely what earned him the promotion, as the Bears were likely mostly uninterested in hiring on someone from the outside who would have to learn the nuances of their system very quickly. After missing the playoffs, the Bears can’t deal with someone’s learning curve next season. They need to hit the ground running.
This is basically what many experts around the NFL expected from Lovie Smith and the Bears. Smith runs his team in a much similar manner to the way Tony Dungy has run the Colts. He likes to keep up the family vibe, and hiring internally is a good way to do that. Smith has been known for rewarding coaches who pay their dues within in his system, much like Dungy, who was a mentor of sorts to Smith as he was coming up in the NFL. While it remains to be seen if this is the right hire, it is certainly not an unexpected one. I would also venture to say that Lee will likely turn out to be a very good hire for the Chicago Bears.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 16, 2008 - Post a comment