The Chicago Bears feel confident in their choice of Chuck Pagano as their new defensive coordinator. He has a long track record of defensive success going back decades including running the #3 defense in the league his only previous year as a coordinator in Baltimore. The only thing left to do is to see what sort of staff he would put together.
His first hire proved to be a bit of a surprise. Not so much in a good or bad way. More of an interesting one. Deshea Townsend might not be a name that first comes to mind to casual NFL fans. He was a 4th round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1998. He would play cornerback for them for the next 11 seasons, helping them to win two Super Bowls in 2005 and 2008.
After retiring in 2011, he became a defensive backs coach in Arizona before starting to move between the NFL and college over the next few years. He was assistant defensive backs coach for the New York Giants this past season. They finished with the 23rd ranked pass defense, which actually isn’t bad considering their pass rush had just 30 sacks.
#Bears have named former NFL veteran Deshea Townsend defensive backs coach and Ronell Williams as defensive quality control coach.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) January 18, 2019
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Chuck Pagano Deshea Townsend move brings more championship expertise
What’s fascinating about this move is that despite coaching for so little time, it’s still a move that brings a ton of experience to the table because Townsend played 12 years in the NFL. During that time he did something the Bears are absolutely aiming for moving forward. He won championships. As a player, he collected 21 interceptions and three defensive touchdowns.
Thus far his coaching stints have yielded mixed results. He didn’t do much during three seasons at Mississippi State before becoming defensive backs coach for the Tennessee Titans. There he had one huge success, transforming safety Kevin Byard into an All-Pro in 2017 with eight interceptions. This secondary in Chicago though will be the most talented he’s ever coached to this point.
He’s also been fortunate to learn under some pretty damn good coaches thus far including Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau. The man is ready for this opportunity and should be a good influence on a young team eager to start winning.
