One of the more surprising decisions for head coach Matt Nagy, when the 2020 offseason began, was to fire offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. While it’s true the Chicago Bears offensive line struggled in 2019, Hiestand was still viewed as somebody with credibility who would get a chance to fix the issues. That was not the case. Nagy wanted a fresh start with somebody he was more familiar with. He swiftly called on longtime NFL veteran Juan Castillo.
This man has quite a history. He was the mainstay for the great Philadelphia Eagles teams of the 2000s. Teams that reached five NFC championship games and a Super Bowl. Then in 2012, he joined the Baltimore Ravens as their run game coordinator and won a Lombardi trophy. He’s had success everywhere he’s been. What a lot of people might not know is how he got his start. He told Jeff Joniak and Jim Miller on Bears All-Access that his efforts to have success coaching offensive line bordered on the obsessive.
“First of all, I started…I played linebacker in the USFL. So I was on the defensive side of the ball. What happened is my college coach wanted to get me on the staff. The only position open was the offensive line. So that’s how it kind of started. What I did is…I didn’t know anything about offensive line…but what I did is I went to visit seven of the best offensive line coaches in the country.
Five were in the NFL and two were in college. I went to see them every year for five years. You know the first couple years I was sleeping in the car because you didn’t have that kind of money. So I drove to Indianapolis and from there I’d just take two weeks and drive to see all these guys, all these coaches and it’s crazy how they helped me…
…The thing they didn’t know was that I never told them I was going to visit another guy. They all thought I was their guy.”
Juan Castillo is all about that work ethic
People might question Castillo for his lack of natural talent for offensive line coaching given he never actually played the position. What they will never be able to challenge him on is his work ethic. The man would not be denied in his pursuit of being great at what he does. One doesn’t hold the same NFL job for over a decade as he did in Philadelphia without being both good at it and ceaseless in his hard work to find solutions whenever problems arise.
Having a guy like that in charge of arguably the most important position group on a football field is never a bad thing. It sounds like Castillo understands the difficult job ahead of him and plans to overcome it like he has so many other obstacles in life. With good old fashioned elbow grease. Bears blockers should expect somebody who won’t be satisfied with anything until they achieve what he feels they’re capable of.
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