The Chicago Bears have yet to hire a defensive coordinator, but reports are the team will be interviewing former Packers defensive coordinator for a defensive staff position. Barry was the Packers’ DC for the last three years. He was let go after the Packers failed to advance to the NFC Championship game despite leading the game in the fourth quarter.
I am sure you will hear Packers fans complain about Barry, but the defense was middle of the pack. The Packers were 13th in Defensive DVOA. They finished the 2023 season ranked 10th in points allowed and 13th in yards allowed. They excelled against the pass ranking 9th in yards allowed and 10th in touchdowns allowed. Unfortunately, they could not take the ball away and finished 31st in interceptions. The run game was also a struggle for the Green Bay defense. They were 28th in rushing yards allowed and 17th in rushing touchdowns allowed.
Joe Barry has plenty of experience as a linebackers coach and was a defensive coordinator for the Lions and Washington. My biggest issue with bringing in Barry is he hasn’t run a 4-3 base defense since 2008. He coached the Bucs’ linebackers in a 4-3 base defense in 2009 and that team went 3-13. My question then is, why would the Chicago Bears want a defensive coach who is more versed in a base defense the team doesn’t run and has no connection that I can see with Matt Eberflus?
Joe Barry is first interviewing with the Philadelphia Eagles. This makes more sense to me seeing the team just hired Vic Fangio as their defensive coordinator — a coach who operates a 3-4 base defense very well.
My only assumption here is that the Bears are looking to find any insight possible into the inner workings of the Packers’ organization — a team that continues to “own” the Chicago Bears even more than the McCaskeys themselves. I also find it odd that they’d consider him before hiring a defensive coordinator. As it stands the Bears have interviewed three coaches for the DC job but as we know, Matt Eberflus is likely to hold onto that defensive power after what took place with Alan Williams in 2023.
Leave a Reply