NFL Coaching Matters: 2022 Chicago Bears Offense and Coaching Staff Preview

July 17, 2022

Eli Grabanski breaks down the 2022 Chicago Bears' coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

The Chicago Bears decided to make some changes to their coaching staff for the 2022 season, letting go of former head coach Matt Nagy, former offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, and former defensive coordinator Sean Desai to bring in head coach Matt Eberflus, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, and defensive coordinator Alan Williams. In addition, the team will also replace all of the primary position coaches from 2021 in the complete overhaul of the coaching staff.

This article will look at the potential impact the 2022 coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the Bears players' fantasy values in it.

The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the Bears coaches bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the Bears' coaches. Here are 'The Baseline' NFL league averages over the past couple of years:

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

Previous Coaching Staff

In order to get an understanding of how the Bears' fantasy players may be impacted this year, we also need to look at some of the key members of the Chicago Bears' previous coaching staff: former head coach Matt Nagy, former offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, and former defensive coordinator Sean Desai. By doing this, we will have a better understanding of where the new regime is starting from and where the primary changes will occur.

Former Head Coach: Matt Nagy

Matt Nagy served as the Chicago Bears' head coach from 2018 to 2021. Prior to joining the Bears, he worked for the Kansas City Chiefs as a quarterbacks coach (2013-2016) and as an offensive coordinator (2017). Below are some offensive statistics from Nagy's experiences in an offensive coordinator or head coaching role to get a better understanding of the changes the Bears may make for their offensive players in 2022.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

*Matt Nagy missed Week 8 of the 2021 NFL season due to COVID-19 protocols*

Former Offensive Coordinator: Bill Lazor

Bill Lazor bounced around the league as an offensive coordinator, spending time with the Miami Dolphins (2014-2015), Cincinnati Bengals (2017-2018), and the Chicago Bears (2020-2021) as an offensive coordinator. Below is a look at how some of Lazor's offenses have performed during his time as an offensive coordinator.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

*Bill Lazor missed Week 15 against the Minnesota Vikings in 2021. John DeFillippo took over offensive coordinator duties for this game.*

Former Defensive Coordinator: Sean Desai

Sean Desai served as the Chicago Bears' defensive coordinator in 2021 after Chuck Pagano retired. He had been with the Chicago Bears for a while, previously spending time as a defensive quality control coach (2013-2018) and safeties coach (2019-2020) for the team. Below are some defensive statistics from his time as the team's defensive coordinator.

2022 Offense

2022 Offensive Coordinator: Luke Getsy

Luke Getsy will get his first opportunity to serve as an offensive coordinator at the NFL level. Prior to joining the Chicago Bears, Getsy spent three seasons as the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach (2019-2021). While he may not have NFL experience as an offensive coordinator, he has worked as one at the college level for Indiana (PA) from 2011 to 2012 and for Mississippi State during the 2018 season. Below are some offensive statistics from his time as a college offensive coordinator.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Luke Getsy Takeaways & Expectations

Looking at Luke Getsy's college data as a play-caller, it appears that Getsy's offense didn't really allow many passing opportunities for his team during his college career, as they averaged 20.89 passing attempts, 165.11 passing yards, and 1.41 passing touchdowns. While the college game and the NFL game may be different animals, from a fantasy perspective, it's still hard to be encouraged by this level of usage as it suggests there's a real possibility Getsy utilizes Justin Fields as more of a game manager in 2022.

It's also important to pay attention to the amount of rushing work a quarterback receives since it can be a bit of a cheat code in the fantasy football world. Over the course of his career as a college offensive coordinator, Getsy's quarterback room averaged 9.30 carries, 40.32 rushing yards, and 0.59 rushing touchdowns per game.

The college game is drastically different from the NFL game - even in the way they track some statistics since they include sacks as a rushing statistic. But given Justin Fields has already shown that he is a capable runner and Getsy's usage of the 2018 Mississippi State quarterback room, it seems likely that the team continues to let Fields run the ball between five or six times per game in 2022. Overall, in this offense, Justin Fields's passing upside could end up being limited, but his rushing upside should still be one of the better marks in the league. Consider him a high-risk high-reward QB2 for the 2022 season.

Moving onto the running back position, at the college level, Getsy's running back room averaged 33.59 carries, 185.41 rushing yards, and 1.57 rushing touchdowns per game.

While it's important to remember that the college level is different from the NFL level, this running back usage on the ground is what you want to see if you are planning on roster one of the Chicago Bears running backs in your fantasy league(s).

But besides the total number of carries, we also need to consider how the carries are distributed - how often was Getsy going to one player versus rolling with a running back by committee approach?

During his college career, Luke Getsy did a good job of getting multiple running backs involved in the offense. Having said that, his lead back still saw 227 carries in 2011 (10 games) and 269 carries in 2012 (14 games). So while there's a possibility he doesn't go full bell-cow with David Montgomery like Matt Nagy frequently did (in terms of percentage of tailback carries), Montgomery should see a healthy number of carries in 2022.

The final aspect we should look at concerning Luke Getsy's running backs is how much he used them as pass-catchers at the college level. Over the course of his 37-game college career, Getsy's running back room averaged 1.95 receptions, 15.95 receiving yards, and 0.16 receiving touchdowns per game.

Again, while the play-calling at the college level is different from the play-calling at the NFL level, these numbers are not what you were ideally hoping to see because they show there's a low floor for Getsy's pass-catching backs. Having said this, when you piece everything together about Getsy's usage of running backs at the college level, it looks pretty good for David Montgomery. Montgomery should be a reliable RB2 for the 2022 fantasy season.

Jumping to the wide receiver position, Getsy's offenses at the college level did not feature them as much. During his 37-game career as a college offensive coordinator, Getsy's wide receiver room averaged 6.95 receptions, 122.59 receiving yards, and 1.05 receiving touchdowns per game.

Again, as we've emphasized repeatedly in this article thus far, the college game is a whole different beast from the NFL one so it's a little harder to draw strong conclusions from Getsy's previous data. Having said that, the receptions numbers are a little worrisome if you are planning on rostering a Bears wide receiver because it shows how low the floor could be for this group. Overall, it probably isn't a good idea to draft any of the Chicago Bears wide receivers outside of Darnell Mooney in 2022.

Lastly, we move to the tight end position. During his three-year career as an offensive coordinator at the college level, Luke Getsy's tight end room averaged 1.46 receptions, 18.16 receiving yards, and 0.08 receiving touchdowns per game.

It's important to note that tight ends are generally utilized less for pass-catching and more for blocking at the college level before going overboard with this data. Going into the 2022 season, Cole Kmet should probably be looked at as a TE2 with upside in your fantasy league(s).

Fantasy Relevant Players: Justin Fields, Trevor Siemian, Nathan Peterman, David Montgomery, Khalil Herbert, Darrynton Evans, Darnell Mooney, Byron Pringle, Velus Jones Jr., Equanimeous St. Brown, Dazz Newsome, Tajae Sharpe, Cole Kmet, Ryan Griffin, and James O'Shaughnessy

2022 Defense

2022 Head Coach: Matt Eberflus

Matt Eberflus has been involved in coaching since 1992 and has been coaching in the NFL since 2009. He served as the Indianapolis Colts' defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021, originally signing on to join forces with New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels before McDaniels backed out and Frank Reich was brought in to be the newest head coach of the team. He did an impressive job when serving as the Colts' defensive coordinator, and he ended up getting hired as the Chicago Bears head coach in the offseason. Below are some statistics from Matt Eberflus's time in a defensive coordinator or head coaching role.

2022 Defensive Coordinator: Alan Williams

The Bears will have a new defensive coordinator for the 2022 season in Alan Williams. Williams has been coaching football since 1992, primarily working on the defensive side of the ball during that time. At the NFL level, he's primarily worked as a defensive backs coach but has also served as a defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings (2012-2013). Below are some team defensive statistics from Williams's time in a defensive coordinator role.

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Richard Hightower - In the complete overhaul of the Chicago Bears coaching staff, the team let go of Chris Tabor to bring in Richard Hightower as the team's special teams coordinator. Hightower has been coaching at the NFL level since 2006 in a variety of positions. Prior to becoming the Chicago Bears special teams coordinator, he served as the San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator (2017-2021).

QB Coach: Andrew Janocko - The Chicago Bears will have a new quarterbacks coach in 2022, getting rid of John DeFilippo and bringing in Andrew Janocko. Janocko has been coaching football since 2011 and most recently worked as a quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings (2021).

RB Coach: David Walker - Another position coach that will change for the Chicago Bears in 2022 is the running backs coach, as they will be moving from Michael Pitre to David Walker. Walker took a break from coaching to pursue other opportunities in 2019 but decided to come back this year to join Matt Eberflus's coaching staff. He has previously worked as a running backs coach at the NFL level for the Indianapolis Colts (2011-2014) and the Detroit Lions (2016-2018).

WR Coach: Tyke Tolbert - For the 2022 season, the Chicago Bears replaced Mike Furrey and hired a new wide receivers coach in Tyke Tolbert. Tolbert has been coaching football since 1994 and coaching wide receivers at the NFL level since 2003. At the NFL level, he served as a wide receivers coach for the Arizona Cardinals (2003), Buffalo Bills (2004-2009), Carolina Panthers (2010), Denver Broncos (2011-2017), and the New York Giants (2018-2021) prior to joining the Chicago Bears.

TE Coach: Jim Dray - In the coaching staff overhaul, the Bears let go of tight ends coach Clancy Barone to bring in Jim Dray to serve in the same role. 2022 will be Dray's first season as a tight ends coach at any level, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand the position - he did play tight end professionally at the NFL level for the Arizona Cardinals (2010-2013, 2017), Cleveland Browns (2014-2015), Buffalo Bills (2016), and San Francisco 49ers (2016). At the NFL level, Dray also has served as an offensive quality control coach for the Cleveland Browns (2019) and the Arizona Cardinals (2020-2021).

OL Coach: Chris Morgan - Another position coach that will change in 2022 for the Chicago Bears is the offensive line coach, as the team goes from Juan Castillo to Chris Morgan. Morgan has previously worked as an offensive line coach at the NFL level for the Atlanta Falcons (2015-2020), and also served as an assistant offensive line coach at the NFL for the Oakland Raiders (2009-2010), Washington Redskins (2011-2013), Seattle Seahawks (2014), and Pittsburgh Steelers (2021).

DL Coach: Travis Smith - The Chicago Bears will have a new defensive line coach in 2022, going from Chris Rumph to Travis Smith. Smith previously worked in a variety of roles for the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders - such as defensive assistant coach (2012-2014), defensive quality control coach (2015-2016, 2018), outside linebackers coach (2017), and assistant defensive line coach (2019-2021).

LB Coach: Dave Borgonzi - The Chicago Bears let go of inside linebackers coach Bill McGovern and outside linebackers coach Bill Shuey to bring in Dave Borgonzi to serve as the team's linebackers coach in 2022. Borgonzi most recently worked with head coach Matt Eberflus as a linebackers coach on the Indianapolis Colts (2018-2021). At the NFL level, he's also spent time as a coach with the Dallas Cowboys (2011-2013) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014-2017).

DB Coach: James Rowe - The Chicago Bears brought in James Rowe to serve as the team's defensive backs coach for the 2022 season. Rowe has been coaching football at a variety of levels and positions since 2007. During the 2021 season, Rowe worked on the same coaching staff as Matt Eberflus and served as the Indianapolis Colts' cornerbacks coach.

Safeties Coach: Andre Curtis - The Bears hired Andre Curtis to serve as the team's safeties coach in 2022. He's been coaching football since 2000 and at the NFL level since 2006. Prior to joining the Bears, he served as the defensive passing game coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks (2018-2021).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts

AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders

AFC East: Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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