NFL coaches know that it’s important they be like parents to children when they run a team. One of the golden rules of good parenting is to never play favorites with one child or another. They all must be loved or disciplined equally to maintain an air of fairness. Yet former head coach Marty Schottenheimer poked a hole in that balloon when he stated that, right or wrong, you have favorites as a coach. Helfrich seems to already be falling into that same trap.
The Chicago Bears offensive coordinator is settling into his first ever NFL job. No doubt he’s encountering a lot of difference between it and the college game, but he hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for the work. He and head coach Matt Nagy are constantly brainstorming ideas to make their new offense more diverse, more unpredictable and more explosive.
To do that they’ve discovered they need to have the right players. Helfrich is convinced they have the perfect solution in running back Tarik Cohen. The Bears coach has seen a lot of athletic players at that position before, but to him there’s something unique about Cohen. It’s clear Helfrich finds an extra joy out of coaching him than other players.
Mark Helfrich clearly thinks Cohen will be special in this new offense
Helfrich spoke to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic to talk about the offensive progress. The subject of Cohen came up after the running back had a strong practice. Helfrich didn’t even try to hide his enthusiasm about what the second-year player could be in the new scheme.
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“He’s awesome. He’s fun to coach,” Helfrich said. “He’s a guy, literally, you can tell him anything— to line up at any position, he’ll do it with an unbelievably great attitude, a giant smile on his face and run 4.3. It’s amazing how many places he has never lined up before, and you say, ‘Hey, it’s like this,’ and he goes out and does it. That’s invaluable, to be able to plug and play a guy like that, that has the kind of characteristics he does with the ball in his hands. That’s rare.”
BIG TIME THROW TO @TarikCohen!
And then he did a backflip after the video!#BearDown pic.twitter.com/DGmrCt1DPT
— Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr) July 27, 2018
Hard to keep with @TarikCohen.
For everyone.#BearDown pic.twitter.com/aHHI4U7aGi
— Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr) July 23, 2018
Cohen has been lining up everywhere since training camp started. He’s played in the backfield, flanked the right and left sides in the slot and also been moved out wide as well. The Bears are trying to get a feel for what they can and can’t do with him. Given how Helfrich is talking, they’re finding out that the answer to that he can do anything. He’d tell you that himself.
Despite being one of their best offensive weapons in 2017, Cohen only touched the ball 140 times on offense. Yet he still managed to produce 753 yards and three touchdowns. Considering he’s compared so often to Darren Sproles, expect that number to go up closer to the 200 range. Defenses will stress at the idea of him getting an extra 60 touches during the season, and it will ease the workload on Jordan Howard as well
There is no downside to getting him the ball, and Helfrich seems deadset on doing just that.
