New Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich is an excited man. This season will mark the first time in his career as a football coach that he’s worked in the NFL. This after spending a year out of football following his dismissal from being head coach at Oregon. No doubt he’s anxious to prove to people that he’s every bit as good at what he does as he did at his peak for the Ducks.
That starts with turning around a Bears offense that was among the worst in the NFL this past season. Mitch Trubisky is at the center of it all, but there is tons of work to do at wide receiver as well. Helfrich has to get these guys playing with more efficiency, urgency and confidence. The thing is he isn’t totally adept at how to speak the language of NFL players.
This is a common theme for lifelong college coaches who finally make the jump to the big leagues. He was asked by Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune whether he was concerned about being an assistant again, and in such an unfamiliar setting. Helfrich didn’t seem perturbed. In fact he hinted at a plan for dealing with any such issues.
Mark Helfrich planning to nag Vic Fangio constantly
It would seem that Helfrich hasn’t lost the Pac-12 in his blood. He delighted in nothing more than torturing defenses during his run at Oregon. So naturally he’d have a strong memory of Vic Fangio who was defensive coordinator at Stanford in 2010. In fact during his introductory press conference Helfrich managed to get a little dig in on his former foe.
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“Excited to not get my teeth kicked in by Vic like the old days,” Helfrich referencing Fangio’s days as Stanford DC when Helfrich was Oregon OC.
— Robert Zeglinski (@RobertZeglinski) January 18, 2018
For those who care to know why this is a troll job, it’s worth noting he and Fangio met once in college. Helfrich’s offense lit up Fangio’s defense for 52 points. Apparently though he’s not satisfied with simply reminding Fangio of how little fun it was to face him on the field. They might be seeing a lot of each in the office real soon.
“Not at all,” Helfrich said. “If (Nagy) was a different person, maybe, but we’re going to have some ups and we’re going to have some downs. I made a million mistakes, a lot of them. And if some of those things, I can communicate, ‘This, this and this might happen,’ and that helps him take a shortcut on a path, absolutely (I‘ll do it).
“But I think it’s all collaborative. I am going to be in Vic (Fangio’s) office a lot. He’s going to be annoyed by me (as I try) to get in his head and know what might help me transition from college to the NFL. I would be an idiot if I didn’t walk 24 feet down and ask a guy like that. So we are all in this together.”
It makes sense. If anybody can help Helfrich understand the difference between college and the pros, it’s Fangio. He already made that jump successfully back in 2011. No doubt those two are going to make for quite a pair.
