Adam Gase rounds out dream Chicago Bears coaching staff

The Chicago Bears overhaul of the organization couldn’t have gone better, even though new GM Ryan Pace can be seen as a bit of a wild card. After hiring a safe head coach in John Fox to hearken back to the Lovie Smith days and an elite defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio, who will be a massive upgrade over Mel Tucker, the Bears were left with one key hole on their staff. Yesterday’s hiring of former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase fills that hole in a big way, and you have to think that this is a dream staff for the Bears organization.

When Smith was the head coach, nobody questioned the team’s ability to play defense, but the criticisms were always directed at his choice of offensive coordinators, such as blocking TE-lover Mike Martz, and the short-comings of the Bears on that side of the ball. When Marc Trestman was in power, all of those questions flipped, though it’s not like Phil Emery put him or anybody in a position to succeed with his shoddy signings on defense. Ryan Mundy anyone? Oh yeah, I’m sure M.D. Jennings is the solution every team’s secondary woes.

Anyway, the Bears hires at head coach and defensive coordinator showed that they clearly prioritize building on defense right now, as Fox is clearly a defense-minded head coach, while Fangio is an elite DC. Sure, he had plenty of talent to work with while coordinating the likes of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman on the San Francisco 49ers, but he didn’t have either of those guys for much of the 2014 season. Despite all the injuries, Fangio showed off his elite coaching chops by getting huge play from veteran DB signings Antonie Bethea and journeyman corner Perrish Cox.

After last season, I don’t think many people will question Fangio’s credentials as a defensive coordinator in this league, because it wouldn’t be fair to completely attribute his success to the talent he worked with. Unfortunately, many people don’t apply that same rule to new offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who had elite pass-catching talent to work with and a Hall of Fame, coach-on-the-field type in Peyton Manning.

With the way Manning raves about Gase, you’d think that those criticisms would become moot points, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Gase is one of the more creative offensive coordinators in the league. This is a guy who has gotten the most out of whichever running back the Broncos play, because every RB on that roster has had success at one point. A lot of that is due to the success of the passing game, but some of it has to be on Gase.

While I’m not sold on Gase, the way he soaked out the most out of Emmanuel Sanders this season was highly impressive. Sanders looked like one of the ten best wide receivers in the NFL, and the Broncos were the first team to actually use his lateral agility and fluid route-running to destroy defenses. They took full advantage of his speed and versatility, putting him in positions where he exploited mis-matches in the defenses, whether they were on “go” routes, underneath routes, in the slot, or out wide. Manning is a huge reason for Sanders’s career year, but it was Gase who used him perfectly.

More from NFL Spin Zone

• Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
• Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
• Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
• Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
• Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens

Based on the amount of head-coaching interest Fangio and Gase received this offseason, the Bears can technically boast to having three head coach-caliber people on their staff. Fox will likely serve as the vocal leader who changes the tune in the locker room after Trestman lost control of it, and he’ll definitely work closely with both coordinators.

We’ll likely see the Bears move to more of a Matt Forte-based approach to ease pressure off of Jay Cutler, who could have a bounce-back year under Gase, as he excels at using weapons in the passing game. Looking back at what he did with Julius Thomas, I wonder what’s in store for athletic beast Martellus Bennett, who wasn’t unleashed enough in 2014.

The Bears defense needs the most work, but that will also be the priority this offseason, especially with two defense-minded coaches. By the looks of it, there won’t be much turnover on the Bears offense, barring an unexpected trade of Cutler, which would amount in a lopsided deal with the sole purpose of dumping cap to add defensive help. There are still plenty of storylines to watch for, but it looks like what Gase sees is what he gets to toy with.

He struck out on head coaching jobs for two straight offseasons after not acting quickly, but the amount of interest he received shows just how respected this guy is as an offensive coordinator. Despite their poor play last season, the Bears have talent on offense, and Gase could be money with those skill position guys. At the very least, he’s a better, more innovative option than Charlie Weis, yeah? Weis is actually a decent offensive coordinator, but Gase was easily the best available, meaning that the Bears got the best possible OC and DC hires of the offseason.

Next: Where do the Bears rank among the best franchises in NFL history?