Running issues lead to Chicago Bears firing offensive coaches

The Chicago Bears let go of multiple offensive assistants on Tuesday. What was the reasoning?

The Chicago Bears had to make some sort of changes heading into the 2020 offseason. After a step back from 12-4 to 8-8, the team could not just stand pat and expect things to get better.

With that in mind, they relived Kevin Gilbride, Harry Hiestand, Mark Helferich and Brock Olivo today.

The moves make a lot of sense, and even more sense when you read that Hiestand and Helferich were responsible for the installing of the run game.

The run game took a step back this year after trading Jordan Howard and drafting David Montgomery, a move that was supposed to spark the unit.

While Helferich did not call the plays, Nagy clearly trusted him to help set the run game up, and it obviously failed. Look for an offensive coordinator hire to have a run-first approach.

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For Hiestand, the run did not help him, but neither did injuries. Kyle Long and Bobby Massie suffering injuries did not help. However, his project in Rashad Coward did not show progression, and the swap of Cody Whitehair and James Daniels made things worse, not better.

It can be argued that the development, or lack there of from Daniels, and his position shuffling is the key to the firing.

Then, there is Gilbride. We know how important tight end is to a Matt Nagy offense. Injuries did him no favors, even less than Hiestand. The Bears finished with three tight ends on the IR.

Still, the lack of involvement from that position, and the fact that Adam Shaheen has not developed at all are going to fall on Gilbride.

The moves may not fix everything, but they add up to some of the issues that held the Bears back this year. Stay tuned as names surface for their new offensive coordinator.

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