Bears promote Sean Desai to Defensive Coordinator

[The Cooler King]

Good Xs and Os thread on Fangio/Staley/Desai D

[Moriarty]

Frankly, I'm shocked at the nearly universal positive view of this move. Sure, he's a Fangio disciple, so that's an easy plus. But what has this guy ever done at the DC level before? He's a guy who bounced around and did different things on both sides of the ball. We need an EXPERT at coordinating defenses, not a jack of all trades potential peter principle guy. Everybody likes the guy, including Kyle Long--a clear homer. Whoop de doo. Everybody likes Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles, too. I hope I'm wrong, but with our football leadership on one year deals, it was easy to predict we would get a newbie who is giddy to get a promotion--which is what we got. Where was the talk about Sean Desai being an "up and comer" who was ready to be an NFL DC? Anyone? Crickets.

I guess we'll see what happens.

Yeah.
It's certainly not impossible he does well.

But it's a giant river of unmerited optimism flowing through right now.

He's not all that experienced.
They had to hired from within, because no one worth a crap was joining on.
The DL coach was out, because he was going elsewhere (and why couldn't he be convinced to stay here for a promotion...?). So that left pretty limited choices.

[Xee]

@Mikefive Maybe I'm pessimistic but given that next year seems to be a lame duck year, I can understand how the Bears is not the best destination for any DC looking to set up shop. Because of that, I was not expecting anything other than a change and have zero expectations for him next year. I guess I'm just not really expecting anything different for the team in 2021.

[IE]

Quality control and position coach path to DC rings like Chico to me. I'll guess it is safe to assume he'll revert back to more like the defense we saw under Fangio - and see what he can do with it.

I have more confidence in the D behind this new guy that I know nothing about than in the O under Nagy.

[UOK]

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears ... right-move

Decent little article with more on Desai.

[Burl]

I hope the guy is great.
I have no reason to be 'down' on the hire and will try to be optimistic that he'll inject some life into this group. I'll even save the "If Sam Acho says it..." commentary for another time.

But I mean, Wade Phillips is actively seeking work and we didn't even interview him?

[dplank]

I hope the guy is great.
I have no reason to be 'down' on the hire and will try to be optimistic that he'll inject some life into this group. I'll even save the "If Sam Acho says it..." commentary for another time.

But I mean, Wade Phillips is actively seeking work and we didn't even interview him?

I know, it does seem a little nuts. Just my opinion, but I suspect that the fact that Nagy/Pace seem to be on a 1 year leash played a big part in this. I believe some other folks have said the same.

I agree with Pagano's comment that coaching is a young mans game, so like you I'll stay positive and hopeful that Desai is a great coordinator that just needed his first shot.

[VA_Mountain_Bear]

This hire makes sense and I feel pretty good about it. Hopefully he'll bring more pressure and be less predictable than Pagano.

[docc]

There are a lot of teams not interviewing Wade Phillips..
I like the hire..but also seems to validate 1 year more for the Nagy/Pace combo..

But what would I know

[o-pus #40 in B major]

It sounds as though Fangio wanted to take Desai with him. I think that's a pretty good endorsement.

Next year is a wash anyway, so maybe its a good time for this guy to get started as a new DC.

I bet he will do well.

[mmmc_35]

when the big tweet of the announcement predominately focuses on the diversity and educational level of the hire

Without taking this into a political sphere, I think it was very merited to focus on Desai’s ethnicity since it is in that regard a historic moment, however small. And the educational stuff is important because of his nickname - “Doc” - and because he’s only been a safeties/QC coach, so he doesn’t really have a documented philosophy, strategy, or record to go off of.

Plus it shows the guy is intelligent, at least at some level, and former players all seem to vouch for him, including Kyle Long and Sam Acho.

To be honest generally when I read " certain race or Gender" gets certain position I find it terribly funny. Its completely ridiculous journalism. People are a lot more then bullshit categories. It's like telling someone they got a position based on their gender. It's very degrading unless it's TRUE.

I didn't really get that vibe from the stories I read. I'm hoping he isnt shitty. Hes an interesting hire. Young enough, right coaching tree, Etc to be good. Hopefully he is.

[cblaz11]

In one sentence I wanted someone with more experience to come in and bust these guys butts a little....In another sentence, I don’t hate finding the next young defensive mind.

He’s been here when we were great and he was here the last couple years under Pagano..I have to think he has ideas to improve.

We need to be more disciplined, we need to put our stars in positions to be successful, we have to tackle better, and we must get better at disguising coverages in the back end. Making the qb think for an extra second is what makes Fangio so good, Pagano couldn’t do that.

[Arkansasbear]

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2021/01/ ... -sam-acho/

Here's a good piece that has a video embedded in it from Acho. A point I found very interesting was that Desai made the half time adjustments while Vic was here.

It's a decent read but listening to Acho gave some great insight from him. The video is only like 2 minutes long.

[HurricaneBear]

A point I found very interesting was that Desai made the half time adjustments while Vic was here.

That is very interesting. I would have guessed Vic would do that. Definitely something that is a huge positive in Desai's favor. I've been pretty meh on the hire but that sparks my interest. Thanks for sharing!