Bears Fire Multiple Coaches Including OC Mark Helfrich

According to Adam Jahns, the Bears are firing OC Mark Helfrich this week. 

Chicago will also let go of OL coach Harry Hiestand, as well as ST assistant Brock Olivo and TE coach Kevin Gilbride. 

The offense and special teams both underperformed for Chicago in 2019 as the Bears missed the playoffs in a year they felt had legitimate Super Bowl hopes. The organization hopes these changes can help it correct course in 2020. 

It’s worth mentioning with Helfrich gone, the Bears no longer make as much sense as a potential free-agent destination for Titans QB Marcus Mariota, who played under Helfrich in college at Oregon. 

Helfrich, 46, began his coaching career at Southern Oregon as their RBs coach back in 1996. He worked for a number of schools including Boise State, Arizona State and Colorado before being hired as the offensive coordinator at Oregon in 2009.

Helfrich was later promoted to head coach for the 2013 season and he spent four years as the team’s head coach. He was hired as the Bears offensive coordinator in 2018.

Overall Helfrich led the Ducks to a record of 37-16 and was 2-2 in bowl games.