Alan Williams Was Surprisingly Blunt About His Failures In Minnesota

When the Chicago Bears named Alan Williams as their new defensive coordinator, it received mixed reactions. Nobody could say they were surprised. The man had two decades of coaching experience and had worked with Matt Eberflus for four years in Indianapolis. It was a natural choice. At the same time, people found it hard to forget his last shot at the job back in 2012 and 2013 with the Minnesota Vikings.

The results can best be described as disappointing. Things started with promise that first year. After finishing 31st in points allowed the year prior, they improved to 14th. Expectations were high going into Williams’ second season. Then the defense allowed 27 or more points in the first five games. It never got much better. The team finished dead last in scoring, and the coaching staff was fired. Williams had a chance to talk about what happened back then, what went wrong, and what he’s learned. To his credit, the coach was forthright with his answers.

He blamed his hard-ass approach and immaturity for the failures.

“I would have hit the roof before, and now it’s just: ‘Hey, this is what we need to do. We’ll go over it again. I would have jumped the coach and the player. I would have been super stern. Now, it’s Day 4. And that was the first time that guy ran that in practice. And so there are going to be some mistakes, so I would say: ‘Hey, No. 1 thing we do want: execution. That’s important. But the No. 1 thing is: ‘Did you make the mistake a hundred miles per hour?’ Not that the standard isn’t the standard, but we’re working to get there. We just want to improve 1 percent each day…

…I’d hope right now that I’m a little more mature, that I handle situations — adversity — a little bit better. I would think at this point I know football … a little bit better. I handle the staff better in terms of interpersonal skills. I would hope that.

And then the players, I think that I was so intense about every situation. Every situation is not live or die. So right now I think I’m a little bit more relaxed.”

Bears have given Alan Williams a strong platform.

It’s not like he is inheriting a unit in the midst of a complete rebuild. They already had some young stars in the pipeline, with Roquan Smith, Jaylon Johnson, and Trevis Gipson shining last season. They then quickly added Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker from the 2nd round of the draft. With a still-excellent Robert Quinn at defensive end, this unit is good enough to rank among the top 15 in the NFL.

It falls on Alan Williams to get them there. His ability to motivate and call plays will be heavily scrutinized from the start. There are no excuses when it comes to that side of the ball. Fans have grown accustomed to good defense in this town. If it struggles, the blame often falls at the feet of the coaches.