Two weeks to the day after firing offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, the Bears found his replacement Monday, per sources: Bill Lazor, whose last stop, a year ago, placed him in the same role with the Bengals.
Bears coach Matt Nagy, though, is still expected to call plays next year — a fact that made finding the next coordinator a complicated sell.
The 47-year-old Lazor has extensive experience working with quarterbacks — he’s been a position coach with the Redskins, Seahawks and Bengals, and the offensive coordinator for both the Bengals and the Dolphins — but it’s what he didn’t do last year that follows a strange trend in the Bears’ hiring practices. He’s the third offensive coach the Bears have hired this month who didn’t have a full-time NFL job last season. The team hired offensive line coach Juan Castillo and tight ends coach Clancy Barone — neither of whom worked for an NFL team in 2019 — earlier this month.
Lazor was promoted from Bengals quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator early during the 2017 regular season, but did not return to Cincinnati after the team fired head coach Marvin Lewis a year ago.
During that time, he tutored quarterback Andy Dalton to a combined 46 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and 5,886 passing yards. Lazor’s connection to the 32-year-old Dalton is notable, given that the Bears figure to be in the market for someone a lot like him this offseason — a veteran with starting experience who could provide a legitimate challenge to Mitch Trubisky. With the Bengals expected to draft LSU’s Joe Burrow No. 1 overall in April, Dalton is expected to be available this offseason.
The Bears kept their coordinator search quiet, but they were interested in Pat Shurmur, who was fired as the Giants’ head coach two weeks ago. Shurmur is reportedly headed to Denver, though, after head coach Vic Fangio decided to change course and fire his coordinator late Sunday. There, Shurmur will be able to call his own plays.
