The Chicago Bears' poor offensive output will lead to big changes to the coaching staff.
The Bears have fired offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride and assistant special teams coach Brock Olivo, the team announced Tuesday.
The headliner of the group is Helfrich, who joined coach Matt Nagy in Chicago in 2018 as coordinator after leaving Oregon in 2016.
The offense took a big step backward in 2019 with Mitchell Trubisky struggling for long stretches of the season. The quarterback completed 63.2 percent of passes for a 17-10 TD-INT ratio and posted an 83 passer rating. In a year the team expected Trubisky to take a step forward, his regression was concerning.
With GM Ryan Pace insisting Tuesday that Trubisky will remain the starter in 2020, changes will come elsewhere.
With Nagy calling the plays, Helfrich became the fall-man for a discombobulated offense that couldn't get out of its own way. Aside from the QB issues, the running game with David Montgomery was nonexistent most of the season. The offensive line was a sieve all year, likely leading to Hiestand's exit after his second stint with Chicago. And the tight end group was completely banged up, despite the assets sunk into the position.
With the coaching changes on offense, the onus will be on Nagy to right the ship in 2020. That work starts with the quarterback.
