The Chicago Bears lost four members of their defensive coaching staff this offseason. It started with coordinator Chuck Pagano retiring. Then defensive line coach Jay Rodgers, outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino, and inside linebackers coach Mark DeLeone all left for other teams. Pagano’s replacement, the promoted Sean Desai, has a lot of work ahead of him to fill those vacancies.
It appears he’s found his first choice. Adam Hoge of NBC Sports Chicago revealed that the team would be hiring Chris Rumph as their new defensive line coach. This is a man with several years of coaching experience going back to the early 2000s. Most of it in college He’s coached both linebackers and defensive linemen, producing a steady stream of future high draft choices including Gaines Adams, Da’Quan Bowers, Malcom Brown, and Taven Bryan among others.
He was hired by the Texans this past season as their outside linebackers coach.
Obviously that didn’t go too well. Desai is smart shifting him over to the defensive line though. History shows that to be his specialty. Rumph has routinely been able to get high productivity out of his guys up front. Adams, whom the Bears traded for back in 2009, had 12.5 sacks for Clemson in 2006. Rumph then helped Alabama establish a dominant defense from 2011 to 2013, yielding back-to-back national championships.
Brown became a 1st round pick after working one season with him at Texas. Then the man headed off to Florida where he eventually turned Bryan into a 1st round pick and Jonathan Bullard (remember him?) into a 3rd rounder. After that, he spent two seasons at Tennessee. The man is well-traveled with a strong track record.
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The #Bears are hiring former Texans OLB coach Chris Rumph as their new defensive line coach, per source.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) January 28, 2021
Highly regarded Texans outside linebackers coach Chris Rumph is joining the Chicago Bears' coaching staff, according to league sources, as their defensive line coach. Former Florida and Tennessee co-defensive coordinator is known for his knowledge and development of players
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) January 28, 2021
Chicago Bears knew what they were doing adding Rumph
Losing Jay Rodgers to the Chargers was a tough blow for the defense. He was probably their best assistant coach on the team, having routinely gotten great play out of his defensive line. Desai had to make sure he filled that void with somebody who had credibility. Rumph is about as good of an option as he could’ve hoped to land.
He’s coached in all sorts of schemes including the 3-4. He’ll know how to handle the requirements for this group headlined by Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, and Bilal Nichols. One interesting subplot to this hire? It’s possible the Houston Texans will be moving on from J.J. Watt this offseason. Perhaps the veteran assistant could lure the future Hall of Famer to Chicago.
Fun dream scenarios aside, the Bears made a strong hire.
The timing was rather fortuitous. Houston fired their previous coaching staff as they make way for a new one. Rumph was jobless and the Chicago Bears needed help. Finding any credible options with head coach Matt Nagy on the hot seat was proving difficult. Securing somebody like him with his two decades of experience was a quality maneuver.
It’ll be interesting to see what Desai has in store for his next move. If nothing else, he’s proving to be pretty savvy in his approach thus far.