Chicago Bears to hire Kerry Joseph as QB coach, per report

Shane Waldron’s offensive staff is beginning to come together.

The Bears are expected to hire Kerry Joseph as quarterbacks coach, according to a report from the NFL Network. Waldron, who the Bears hired as offensive coordinator earlier this week, worked with Joseph for the past three seasons in Seattle. Joseph spent the past two seasons as the assistant quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks.

Waldron and Joseph will be in charge of improving a Bears passing attack that ranked near the bottom of the NFL in each of the past two seasons under former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Head coach Matt Eberflus and the Bears fired Getsy on Jan. 10. Eberflus is looking to revamp his offensive coaching staff, although the Bears did retain offensive line coach Chris Morgan and tight ends coach Jim Dray.

Waldron was the first major hire on Monday. Joseph appears to be the next.

Joseph, 50, is a Louisiana native who played quarterback at McNeese State in the mid-1990s and went on to play professionally in the NFL, Europe and Canada. He was the Canadian Football League’s most outstanding player in 2007, while leading the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the Grey Cup. He also, interestingly, moved to safety and played safety for the Seahawks from 1999-02.

As a coach, Joseph participated in coaching internships with the Saints and Bucs, while taking a job as an assistant at McNeese State. He served as co-offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and quarterbacks coach at various times. He was briefly the interim head coach in 2018.

After one season at Southeastern Louisiana, he took a job as an offensive assistant with the Seahawks in 2020. He was assistant wide receivers coach in 2021 and assistant quarterbacks coach from 2022-23.

If the Bears keep quarterback Justin Fields on the team in 2024, Joseph will work with Fields directly. Joseph helped quarterback Geno Smith revamp his career during the past two seasons in Seattle.

Alternatively, if the Bears select a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and decide to trade Fields, Joseph will be the man tasked with brining the rookie quarterback up to speed.