The Bears staff will coach at this month's Senior Bowl, game officials announced Tuesday, giving the team an up-close head start on this year's pre-draft evaluation process as it moves on from one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
The Senior Bowl is football's highest-profile college showcase game. Played Jan. 28 in Mobile, Ala., it features two teams full of seniors who are expected to be drafted.
Their coaching staff will host three practices for the North team starting Jan. 24. The practices, more so than the game, are highly scrutinized by scouts and coaches from all 32 teams.
By participating for the week, Bears coaches will have the added benefit of working closely with players on the field. Their coaches and scouts also will host players from both teams in meetings and, in the process, get a more accurate feel for prospects' personalities, intelligence and how well they retain information.
Bears general manager Ryan Pace has an extensive background in scouting, and it's likely he pushed to involve the organization in the Senior Bowl after its 3-13 season. Coaching it doesn't guarantee draft success, of course, but there are some high-profile examples of teams finding key contributors there.
Most notably, the Cowboys coached the North team last January and had their eyes opened by quarterback Dak Prescott, who played for the South team coached by the Jaguars staff. The same thing happened in 2012 when the Redskins staff coached the South team, opposed by quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Prescott and Cousins each made good first impressions on those staffs in practices and in meetings, paving the way to promising NFL unions in the fourth round of those respective drafts.
This will be John Fox's first time coaching the Senior Bowl in his career as a head coach or assistant. He was asked Sunday whether he would interested if the opportunity was presented.
"They've changed how they do that," Fox said, "so I really can't comment other than I think that you get a chance to watch guys and work with guys almost like you have them in your training camp. So I can see the benefits. But I really can't speak too much to it because I haven't ever done it before."
