Chicago Bears: 5 Best Assistant Coaches In Franchise History

The Chicago Bears, like most franchises, are defined by the quality of their head coaches. However, one can never overlook the assistants.

There’s a reason the NFL has an Assistant Coach of the Year award now. It’s realized that the subordinates can be just as crucial to team success. Ask the Philadelphia Eagles where they might be had they not hired Jim Schwartz to run their defense two years ago. These hires are so important but often get glossed over by the man in front of the camera.

This leads to an interesting question that hasn’t been asked much in Chicago. Who have been the best assistant coaches the Bears have employed since they started to become a serious thing? Here are five names that deserve the greatest recognition. Fans may be surprised by some of the additions but might gain greater appreciation when hearing their stories.

#5:  Ron Turner

For a lot of fans, Ron Turner remains a punchline. The poster boy for the darker periods of Bears offensive football. This is entirely unfair. If people were to actually dig into the history they’d find that given the pieces he had, Turner was actually among the best offensive coordinators this team has ever had. Not once either. He proved it twice.

Understand that he’s produced a top 10 scoring offense in Chicago twice. Once in 1995 and again in 2006. Compared to most coordinators that might not seem like much, but it’s impressive for this team. One must also remember he did this with Erik Kramer and Rex Grossman as his quarterbacks. He never really had a true top talent at that position. If he had? things might’ve been so much better.