Post by Deleted on May 24, 2018 11:54:47 GMT -6
Mark Helfrich continues to receive high praise from Bears
ByMatt Eurich 18 hours ago
During the second wave of Chicago Bears OTA's there was no shortage of comments from head coach Matt Nagy and quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Sandwiched between the two during press conferences was new offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. Seemingly a bit quiet in nature, both Nagy and Trubisky told different stories about the former Oregon head coach. In fact, there was a lot of praise to be had for Helfrich from the duo.
"He's a people person," Nagy said in his press conference. "He also has a sense of humor not everyone knows. He's great with the guys in there. He's a teacher. When he's in there teaching the concepts and the "whys" he does a great job of that. He keeps it light. He's a teacher with the players and the coaches respect that."
It did not take Trubisky long to echo those sentiments as well.
"Coach Helfrich is so smart, such a detailed guy," Trubisky said. "He brings a lot of creativeness to this offense. He obviously has some tempo in his background so we want to implement some of that. Just his football intelligence and IQ and how he can help me detail plays. [He helps me] think about things from different perspectives and it's allowed me to grow in different areas already."
Running back Tarik Cohen also got in on the fun, explaining why he is so excited to be a part of this offense under Helfrich.
"He's just a bag full of tricks," Cohen said, via Bears play-by-play announcer Jeff Joniak. "Coming to work you're excited about what the day is going to bring."
The 44-year-old began his coaching career at Southern Oregon in 1996. He worked as a graduate assistant at Oregon in 1997 before taking the quarterbacks coaching job at Boise State in 1998. In 2001 he took the same job at Arizona State and eventually became the passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach between 2003 and 2005. He moved on to Colorado in 2006 as the offensive coordinator before returning to Oregon as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2009 under Chip Kelly.
Helfrich later became the head coach at Oregon in 2013 through 2016. During that time he went 37-16 and went 2-2 in bowl games. After a brief stint as a television personality, the veteran coach is back doing what he loves. While he will not be the play-caller on Sundays with Nagy taking over those duties, he will play an integral part in how the offense gets implemented during the week in practice.
Priority No. 1 for Helfrich this offseason with the organization will be to get the most out of Trubisky. While he was known for his explosive plays while at Oregon, he did spend a lot of time working with and developing quarterback Marcus Mariota during his time there. So far this offseason he has been impressed with his quarterback.
"I really like his mindset," he said. "A very competitive guy. He knows what he knows and he's free to admit and talk about what he doesn't. That's not always the case with some guys. Whether that's a pride thing or whatever. He's been very coachable. I think [quarterbacks coach] Dave Ragone has done an awesome job of prepping him each day. We all see through his eyes in a lot of things and through his brain and how he thinks through things, so that's a big part of it too—learning how that guy sees things and being able to talk and teach to that."
That relationship and bond between Helfrich and Trubisky will be just as important as the one he forms with Nagy. Even though Nagy will be the one calling plays on Sundays it will be up to Helfrich to get the most out of the Bears quarterback this season.
