Bears hope Desai is NFL’s next rising star
Mentor Fangio: New defensive coordinator ‘is ready’
The Bears want to get back to playing defense the way they did under Vic Fangio, so this time they didn’t pass over one of his apprentices.
Safeties coach Sean Desai was named defensive coordinator Friday night, less than two weeks after the Bears lost their wild-card-round playoff game against the New Orleans Saints and coordinator Chuck Pagano decided to retire.
Coach Matt Nagy considered outside alternatives but ultimately settled on Desai, who was indispensable when Fangio ran the defense at Halas Hall. When
Fangio departed for the Denver Broncos in January 2019, the Bears skipped over defensive backs coach Ed Donatell for the role, and outside linebackers coach Brandon Staley was a young position coach who had yet to emerge as a fast climber.
Donatell followed Fangio to Denver, and Staley was allowed to join them when Pagano wanted to bring in Ted Monachino as outside linebackers coach. Two years later, the 38-year-old Staley is the head coach of the Los
Angeles Chargers after only four seasons in the NFL — three as a position coach and one as coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams — and the Bears are hopeful Desai, 37, will become another bright and rising star.
“I think Sean is ready,” Fangio said. “He thinks he is, which is more than half the battle. I know he has confidence in himself that he can do it.
“He definitely thinks he is more than ready for this, and that’s a big part of it. He’s confident and the players will see how confident he is and how excited he is, and that will get them off to a good start.”
By promoting Desai, the Bears have a coordinator familiar with the intricacies of Fangio’s system and an understanding of the personnel in place. The challenge is considerable for Desai as the team’s first first-time defensive coordinator since Rod Marinelli’s promotion to the role in 2010.
Marinelli had a deeper wealth of experience in the league at that point, and the Bears have slipped some on defense the last two seasons, especially during the second half of 2020.That could be in part because 37.5% of the snaps on defense belonged to players age 30 or older last season.
Only outside linebacker Khalil Mack, who had 9 1⁄2 sacks, was named to the Pro Bowl, and the Bears need more elite play from their top-paid defensive players — including safety Eddie Jackson, whom Desai coached the last two years — if they want to become a force again.
Originally hired as a quality control assistant on Marc Trestman’s staff in 2013, Desai is the longest-tenured coach in the building. He maintained that role when coach John Fox and Fangio arrived in 2015. Desai worked with linebackers before transitioning to the secondary, which should benefit him as he works to put the entire puzzle together.
“Right off the bat, his work ethic was really good, and he quickly learned our system that we were putting in and grew with it over the four years that I was there,” Fangio said. “And I when I say grew with it, he was there with the logical progression that we went through with the players we had from the start to the players we ended up with.
“He’s had a good mix of coaching an up-front position and a secondary position, which gave him a good understanding and a good overall view of our system and our defense. That should give him a good head start, and that is a big part of it. The front has to marry with the back end and vice versa.”
Choosing Desai minimizes the amount of change required, not an insignificant factor as the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to again alter the landscape of the NFL’s offseason program. Reduced or eliminated time on the practice field would have made adjusting to an outside hire such as James Bettcher, George Edwards, Jonathan Gannon and other candidates more challenging. Desai is going to speak the same language as the players from day one.
“We are very fortunate and excited to promote from within,” Nagy said in a statement. “He is a person of high football intelligence, extremely detail-oriented, has a very strong work ethic, and I cannot think of someone more deserving to lead our defense. Sean is a family man of high character, and the respect he has within our building from coaches, players and staff is unparalleled.”
The key for the Bears is returning to the success enjoyed under Fangio, and while much of what Pagano ran the last two years was very similar, there were subtle differences. One veteran scout who watched the team closely suggested the Bears could attempt to return to varying their pressure more — not necessarily using more pressure — and disguising coverages more. In other words, the defense could be a little more complex with Desai, who has a Ph.D. in educational administration from Temple.
Fangio tried to bring Desai with him to the Broncos — a testament to his evaluation of the new coordinator’s acumen — and the Bears blocked the move. Now with pressure on the organization to show growth coming off consecutive 8-8 seasons and with heavy investments made on the defensive side of the ball, it will be fascinating to see if he’s another young coach on a fast career track.
Fangio said Desai and Staley have some parallels beyond their age.
“They both were very eager and wanting to learn and stay on top of the trends both offensively and defensively in the NFL and they both had recent college background before we got them,” Fangio said. “They have a good feel for today’s game from what’s happening in college and how that stuff has integrated itself into the NFL over the last five, six years.”
Nagy has more work to complete, but replacing Pagano was his biggest order of business. The Bears need to hire a replacement for defensive line coach Jay Rodgers, who left to work for Staley in Los Angeles. A source said the Bears remained interested in Bettcher for a role on the staff after promoting Desai, but NFL Network reported the San Francisco 49ers hired him.
Outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino is not expected to return.
Forme rrunning backs coach Charles London is now the quarterbacks coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and former passing game coordinator Dave Ragone is now the offensive coordinator in Atlanta. It remains to be seen whether additional changes will occur for Nagy.