Bears reportedly hire their new WR coach Chris Beatty |
Well, that certainly didn't take long. After interviewing a total of three players for the WR coach opening, Shane Waldron has found his man, former Los Angeles Chargers WR coach Chris Beatty, who will now head to the Windy City to take on the same role. With Jim Harbaugh coming in to coach the Chargers, there was plenty of speculation that he wanted to change his entire coaching staff, so Beatty and several others chose to interview for different gigs.
We discussed Beatty the other day, and for a guy who has had the most success in college, it does seem like an interesting hire. Or does it? Considering the work he has done with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams over the past three seasons, the Bears hope that trend can continue with them. You also have to look at Jesse Palmer's growth in place of Williams this season, and Beatty deserves more credit than some are willing to give him. The single most important note to list about this hiring is how DJ Moore feels about the move. He is the Bears No.1 option and if you add a new position coach, they must get along with Moore and the rest of the guys. That shouldn't be an issue here, as Beatty was Moore's WR coach for two seasons at Maryland and is credited for helping him reach the level he is at now. These two share a bond that not many coaches have, and the fans should be excited to see them reunited with the possibility of many great games to come. This hire continues the strange, but rather impressive trend from the Bears this offseason as Beatty was the first of three people to interview for this position. Considering that Waldron was the first to interview for the offensive coordinator spot before getting the job, the Bears seem to know what they want this offense to look like and are wasting no time getting that done. Beatty replaces Tyke Tolbert, who was the Bears WRs Coach in 2022 and 2023. Tolbert was let go as part of the early January purge of the offensive coaching staff that was headlined by the dismissal of Luke Getsy as the team’s offensive coordinator. Nothing against Tolbert, as he was able to get the most out of Moore and some of his guys the past two seasons, but when you look at that Getsy offense and how bad it was, you knew that most of those coaches would be out the door. For Beatty, not only is he stepping into a great situation, but he will be looking for Moore to reach new heights after he was a standout performer with Beatty for two seasons at Maryland. Typically, WR coaches are not going to be a make-or-break hire, and no one is expecting Beatty to be a make-or-break guy. They expect him to have the WR room play more consistently, as they have been terrible the past two seasons apart from Moore. Playcalling from Getsy had something to do with it, but even when Fields managed to find his guys, there was little they could do right. Part of Tolbert's downfall was that he needed to have the best group of guys to work with, but as a coach, you need to figure out how to get the most out of the players you are given. That shouldn't be an issue for Beatty as he not only has gotten the most out of his guys, but perhaps a change in technique will have Tyler Scott and a few others playing better ball. With this hire, Beatty becomes the third offensive coach hired since the end of the season, joining OC Waldron and QB coach Kerry Joseph. It is also the second hire for Waldrun as he continues to build his staff the way he wants it to be built. Looking at how the staff looks right now, the Bears have two more offensive coaching spots to fill as they need an assistant TEs coach and RB coach. Neither of those are high-profile jobs, but you have to start somewhere for a coach to move up in the ranks. It will be interesting to see who Waldron appoints to those spots as he continues to reshape this offense.
