It is always interesting to hear certain things come out of the woodwork when a coaching staff is fired. Fans have already heard multiple players hint at issues with former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy. Nobody would’ve expected the same to occur with offensive line coach Juan Castillo. Yet that appears to be the case. Tom Thayer, the celebrated alum of the 1985 team and current color analyst for games, appears not to be a huge fan.
During an appearance on the Mully & Haught show for 670 The Score, Thayer was asked about the comments from GM Ryan Poles about the offensive line needing to get lighter and quicker. They were curious which player(s) he might be talking about. Instead, Thayer took it as an opportunity to snipe Castillo instead. It seems he had some misgivings about the former Bears coach. Particularly his vision for what the offensive linemen should look like from a body standpoint.
Strong words to be sure.
It seems Tom Thayer was not as impressed with the offensive line coach as others were. Clearly, he thinks Castillo’s vision was flawed from the start and a big reason why the Bears often struggled up front. The 58 sacks allowed in 2021 probably didn’t help that image. Interestingly, Thayer isn’t the first to raise such concerns. Two years ago, when the Bears hired Castillo, I reached out to an NFL assistant coach who’d worked with him in the past.
He was less than flattering, calling the entire Andy Reid tree of coaches almost “cultish” in how they take care of each other. The only reason Castillo keeps finding work is because of other Reid guys. John Harbaugh in Baltimore, Sean McDermott in Buffalo, and Matt Nagy in Chicago. There is a reason he hasn’t stuck around long in any of those locations.
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It seems the rest of the league isn’t impressed with his work, and Thayer is now part of that growing majority. If nothing else, his optimism with Poles and the new coaching staff is encouraging.
