The Coordinators

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

I am concerned about Blanche. His track record as Chicago's D-Coordinator is less than stellar. I understand he's an old school, highly respected position coach, but I question his ability as a DC.

In Chicago from 1999 - 2003 the D was in the bottom third in 99, 2000, 2002 & 2003. In 2001 it was #1 in the league. After Blanche left, Ron Rivera took basically the same defensive players and turned that D into a juggernaut from 2004 (13th) 2005 (1st) 2006 (3rd) . Now Rivera is in SD as a LB coach and Chicago's D has struggled. I would be a lot more comfortable seeing an upward trend in performance rather than consistently low performance and one peak year.

I can understand the move if Meeks is the Head Coach and calling the D. Blanche & KO provide stability and continuity with the players and Meeks can implement his strategy and scheme which has been successful in Indy.

Blache is very respected in Chicago as a coordinator.

Unit production aside, remember that prior to 2000, the team had no Mike Brown, no Brian Urlacher, no Tommie Harris, no Alex Brown, no Ogunleye, no Ian Scott, no Lance Briggs, no Charles Tillman, and no Nathan Vasher.

The entire foundation for the defense of the current day Chicago Bears was layed by the Blache staff. Urlacher was a Blache-era pick, Mike Brown, Tilliman, Briggs, Alex Brown, and Ian Scott were all Blache's acquisitions.

That's 6 guys who played on the super bowl team in 2006, and Blache's scouting is chiefly responsible for putting them together.

Lovie Smith came in and filled in the pieces Blache was missing, but he certainly has an eye for elite defensive talent.