4 things we learned from the Bears’ new coordinators

The Bears introduced their three new coordinators Thursday in a session with reporters over Zoom. It was the first time that Bears fans heard from head coach Matt Eberflus’ top assistants.

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, defensive coordinator Alan Williams and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower each talked about his plan for his respective side of the ball.

Here are the key takeaways.

1. This will not be ‘Luke Getsy’s offense’

Getsy is taking a collaborative approach to building an offense. What that will look like come September will depend on the players he has at his disposal. He said the purpose of an offensive coordinator is not so much about calling plays. It’s more about diving into “what the [players] do best, and then build the offense around that.”

This is a far different approach than when the Bears hired Matt Nagy. Nagy was deliberate in his desire to implement the type of offense that he coordinated in Kansas City under Andy Reid. Getsy sounded more open to doing whatever works, no matter what it looks like.

“I really don’t want to view things as [it’s] just going to be Luke Getsy’s offense,” Getsy said. “This isn’t really going to be that, because this is going to be a collective group doing this together. We’re going to build something that’s going to be our own.”

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2. The offense will depend on what the QB can handle

All that said, no position will dictate what the Bears’ offense looks like more than the quarterback position and Justin Fields. In Green Bay, where Getsy was the quarterbacks coach, that process started with getting to know the players, how they learned and what allowed each of them to thrive. It looks a lot different, too, when there’s an MVP quarterback in the room such as Aaron Rodgers.

Fields and Getsy are still in the feeling-out process.

“I got an opportunity to interview [Fields] during the combine stuff last year, that process,” Getsy said. “Super impressed with the man, the person, you can feel the determination, the will inside of him as he was communicating to me, he was super sharp with what they did at Ohio State. And then just the brief conversation that we were able to have together here the other day, the same exact thing just jumped back out at me again.”

3. ‘Good players are good players no matter what scheme they’re in’

Williams, who previously was the safeties coach in Indianapolis, said it took time for the Colts to buy into what Eberflus preached when he first became the defensive coordinator in Indianapolis in 2018. The results changed those attitudes real quick. Once the turnovers started coming, so too did the victories and so did the buy-in.

As for the switch from a 3-4 defensive scheme to Eberflus’ 4-3, Williams wouldn’t say how long it might take for players to feel comfortable. He’s not worried, though, because the Bears have good players on their defense.

“Good players are good players no matter what scheme they’re in,” Williams said. “And we have good players.”

Much like the offense, the Bears will create a plan that works for the players they have on defense.

“I may come in here and say I love zone coverage, and our guys may be phenomenal man coverage players,” Williams said. “So you know what? We’re going to man.”

4. Hightower brings a ‘nothing fazes us’ attitude

Hightower comes from a 49ers special teams unit that basically ended the Packers’ season in the divisional round of the playoffs after Green Bay earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC. A blocked punt returned for a touchdown changed the course of the game. There was a blocked field goal earlier in the game, too.

Hightower deflected credit for the performance.

“I think a game like that, in any games, you learn in the good and you learn in the bad,” Hightower said. “So I just feel very humble that that happened, and I was happy for the players.”

Hightower worked with longtime Bears kicker Robbie Gould in San Francisco. Gould has gone viral on the internet several times for his unwillingness to adjust his warmup routine, even with cheerleaders or halftime shows in his way.

That’s an attitude Hightower hopes to bring with him to Chicago.

“We want all of our players to have that mindset,” Hightower said. “We want all of our players to focus on their job and not let anything get in the way. I know I’m going to have tunnel vision.”