The Chicago Bears quarterback coach is very familiar with the Minnesota Vikings
When the Chicago Bears added John DeFilippo to their coaching staff it was looked at as another person who is comfortable with Nick Foles. However, beyond that is a person is very comfortable with the Minnesota Vikings.
“Flip” was hired by the Vikings as their offensive coordinator the year after winning a Super Bowl as the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback coach. A clash in styles between Flip and head coach Mike Zimmer led to the marriage ending after just one season, though.
However, this does set up for a chance to have DeFillippo instill. revenge. When most teams meet up with two former colleagues, you could argue that neither has the advantage.
For example, when the Eagles play the Colts and Doug Pederson takes on Frank Reich. Pederson knows everything about his former OC Reich, but Reich knows just as much about Pederson from their meetings together.
However, in this game, the offense does not revolve around DeFillipo. As a QB coach, there is little that Mike Zimmer and the Vikings can take from their time together and say that this is what will be instilled.
On the flip, as an offensive coordinator, Flip and Mike Zimmer have spent countless hours going over the defensive gameplan of Zimmer.
Rumors were that Zimmer moved on from Flip, because his offensive philosophy did not match the defensive style of Zimmer. Still, that does mean that the two had long discussions about calling plays on offense to benefit the defense.
John DeFilippo was in the meeting rooms to hear how Zimmer thinks and game plans for opponents. Beyond that, he heard specifically how Zimmer will plan for a Matt Nagy offense.
Mike Zimmer cannot use what he knows about Flip against the Bears, but the Bears can take what they learned about Zimmer and use it against him. Matt Nagy may not give up play calling, but he better be all ears for John DeFillippo this week.