Bears hire Michael Pitre as running backs coach

The Bears are bringing in Michael Pitre to coach running backs, the team announced Thursday.

This will be Pitre’s first full-time NFL coaching job. He spent the previous three seasons as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon State.

Pitre will replace former Bears running backs coach Charles London, who left the Bears after three seasons to become the quarterbacks coach for the Atlanta Falcons. London will be joining former Bears passing game coordinator Dave Ragone, who was hired by the Falcons as offensive coordinator.

Pitre coached current Bears running back Artavis Pierce while both were at Oregon State. He also will be tasked with coaching running backs David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen, among others. At Oregon State, Pitre’s teams rushed for 165.8 yards a game and 4.5 yards a carry.

Pitre was a three-year starting fullback at UCLA in the mid-2000s, including a year as a team captain in 2006. His previous NFL experience includes serving as a scouting intern for the New England Patriots in 2009 and as a Bill Walsh minority coaching fellow with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017.

Pitre had previous college coaching stops at Colorado (2012 to 2013) and Montana State (2014 to 2017) before joining the Oregon State staff in 2018.