A Closer Look at the Chicago Bears' Coaching Staff: The Defense

The Bears didn’t do much on their defensive coaching staff this offseason except make former defensive line coach Rod Marinelli their new defensive coordinator.

The interesting thing about Marinelli is that he has never called defensive plays, even as a head coach (in Detroit), so things may get kind of sticky to start in Chicago. But he’s a good coach with a great background, and he should be able to run this defense well.

It’s very important that Marinelli helps out with the defensive line during his time as defensive coordinator. Granted, the Bears went out and hired Eric Washington to help coach the defensive line this season, but you can bet that Marinelli will have his hands in there trying to make something happen—and it should be for the better.

Washington, as a coach himself, is promising and knows a thing or two about how it works on the defensive line. His coaching ability will be key to the line performing well in 2010.

Bob Babich remains with the Bears as a linebackers coach, and despite his troubles with being a defensive coordinator, Babich isn’t a bad linebackers coach. Seeing what he was able to do with the unit last season in the midst of all the injury problems that they had, Babich seems almost like a miracle worker.

With all the pieces back, healthy and in place at the position this season, the Bears' linebackers could (and should) end up being the best unit on the defense when the season is over. Perhaps Babich is good at doing something.

In the secondary, the Bears have two coaches ready to help mold this group into a winner. Jon Hoke coaches the defensive backs overall, while Gill Byrd assists him and takes care of the safeties. Needless to say, both coaches have a lot of work to do this season, as they have to work with some younger players to help get them ready for NFL action.

Hopes are high that stars Chris Harris, Charles Tillman, and Zach Bowman will be able to remain healthy this season so that the Bears won’t have to use any of their younger guys to make up for what they will lose if these guys get hurt. Hopefully, for both Byrd and Hoke’s sakes, things go well and their units have a fine season.

Not to be included as part of the defense but as part of the Bears' special teams is special teams coordinator Dave Toub. Toub has been an asset to this team since he came here when Lovie Smith was hired, and there have been many times when his special teams have come through to help the Bears win games. Now if they can just get that spark back that they had when Devin Hester was returning punts and kicks on a regular basis, things would be golden.

Smith is a defensive coach and has taken a lot of pride in his defense, but recently the Bears defense hasn’t been performing that well. He put Marinelli in charge this season in order to take the weight of having to call plays off his shoulders, and hopes are high that this will work and that the Bears defense will be that much better in 2009. It had better be, or else this entire coaching staff may not return in 2010.