Durkin: Bears Up Coaching Talent Again With Adam Gase
By Dan Durkin-
(CBS) Bears fans might be pinching themselves right about now. As the 2014 season slogged on, fans grew disappointed and jaded about what the team had become.
Yet in just more than three weeks, the decisions and swift actions at Halas Hall have fostered a renaissance. The team has gone from a troika of coach Marc Trestman, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer to John Fox, Vic Fangio and, most recently, Adam Gase, respectively.
The Gase hiring is a boon for the Bears. Considered to be among the brightest young minds in football, the 36-year old Gase drew serious consideration from the San Francisco 49ers for their head coaching job and interviewed for the same role with Buffalo, Atlanta and his previous employer in Denver.
After those opportunities didn't materialize, Gase made the rounds on the offensive coordinator circuit, interviewing with St. Louis, Jacksonville and Baltimore, while drawing interest from Oakland.
In the end, Gase was reunited with Fox, who gave him his first opportunity as an offensive coordinator in 2013 in Denver. In that season, the Broncos set the NFL single-season record for points scored (606), touchdowns (76) and net passing yards (5,444) while becoming the first team to have five different players score at least 10 touchdowns.
This past season, the Broncos finished second in points scored (482) and fourth in total yards (6,446) and passing yards (4,661).
Gase spent six seasons total in Denver, moving up from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator.
He got his start in the NFL with the Detroit Lions as a scouting assistant and became a member of the offensive coaching staff in 2005, working under then-offensive coordinator Greg Olson, whose roots are in the West Coast, horizontal passing offense. In 2006, Mike Martz took over in Detroit, so Gase was exposed to Don Coryell's vertical passing system as well.
Despite the success Gase had in Denver, skeptics will point out the fact he worked with Peyton Manning, who more often than not requires offensive coordinators to learn his system of offense. That in itself is a benefit. Manning is the closest thing the NFL has to a player-coach, so that experience for Gase is valuable.
Gase's scheme is predicated on creating advantageous matchups, which he creates using formations and pre-snap motion to get coverage reads. By understanding how defenses are taught to react to certain personnel and motion, Gase is able to isolate his weapons in the pass game against linebackers and safeties.
Gase showed some adaptability down the stretch of the 2014 season. When the the Broncos lost tight end Julius Thomas, one of their premier coverage mismatches, Gase was forced to reinvent the run game. He did so by utilizing more six-man offensive line personnel groupings and deployed a power running attack.
Second-year running back C.J. Anderson -- who started the season as the Broncos' third-stringer -- responded well, averaging nearly 130 yards on the ground over the Broncos' final five games. This stretch coincided with Manning's thigh injury, which took some pace off his already fading arm strength.
Gase has familiarity with Bears receiver Brandon Marshall, whom he coached during Marshall's 2009 Pro Bowl season. At that time, Marshall's 10 receiving touchdowns were a career-high total, and his 21 receptions against the Colts set an NFL record that still stands.
The Bears have enough personnel on offense to move the football and score points next fall, but major decisions loom -- from a financial and off-field perspective -- about Marshall and quarterback Jay Cutler.
Furthermore, how will Gase adapt his pass-first mentality with Fox's preference for a physical run game? These are the storylines heading into the offseason, but it's clear the Bears have once again upped their coaching talent under the new regime.
Dan Durkin covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @djdurkin.
