Sean Desai Introductory Press Conference

[adam]

I really like this guy. It seems like he gets it, he knows how to make the defense better and they will be next year.

It was interesting to hear all the praise go to Fangio, and I don't think anyone ever mentioned Pagano once. 

[Mongo3451]

He's definitely a likeable guy.  It also seems like he does the work on what ever he does.  I would have liked to have seen him be a little more critical or demanding of improvement in effort.  I know Pagano is a really nice guy, but some of our DB's took the year off on physicality.

[jason]

What am I missing here? 6 years as a defensive quality control coach with the Bears from 2013 to 2018, and then two years as the safeties coach from 2019-2020. How in the world does that translate into DC? Is this a loyalty promotion from a notoriously cheap franchise known for poor coaching decisions?

• His "record" while with the Bears is 55-73
• The defensive points against have been 30,31,20,24,9,1,4,14 from 2013-2020
• The defensive yards against have been 30,30,14,15,10,3,8,11 in the same time frame
• More specifically, the passing ranks in terms of passing yards, passing TDs, INTs:
  • 2013 - 15, 14, 8
  • 2014 - 30, 31, 14
  • 2015 - 4, 25, 30
  • 2016 - 7, 11, 29
  • 2017 - 7, 5, 29
  • 2018 - 7, 8 ,1
  • 2019 - 9, 4, 25
  • 2020 - 12, 16, 23

So the guy puts in work as defensive QC coach for six years, pays his dues, and becomes the safeties coach. Subsequently, Eddie Jackson, the all world, ball-hawking safety turns into an average Joe safety, and the passing defense regresses for two straight years.

I know the players are coming out singing his praises, but that doesn't look like a guy I'd hire as a DC, regardless of how long he's been around or if he has a PhD. 

[adam]

12 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

He's definitely a likeable guy.  It also seems like he does the work on what ever he does.  I would have liked to have seen him be a little more critical or demanding of improvement in effort.  I know Pagano is a really nice guy, but some of our DB's took the year off on physicality.

We need coaches who can assess the situation, put players in the best position to succeed, and be able to make in-game adjustments based on the other team. Pagano was way too passive in almost all of those. 

6 hours ago, jason said:

What am I missing here? 6 years as a defensive quality control coach with the Bears from 2013 to 2018, and then two years as the safeties coach from 2019-2020. How in the world does that translate into DC? Is this a loyalty promotion from a notoriously cheap franchise known for poor coaching decisions?

• His "record" while with the Bears is 55-73
• The defensive points against have been 30,31,20,24,9,1,4,14 from 2013-2020
• The defensive yards against have been 30,30,14,15,10,3,8,11 in the same time frame
• More specifically, the passing ranks in terms of passing yards, passing TDs, INTs:
  • 2013 - 15, 14, 8
  • 2014 - 30, 31, 14
  • 2015 - 4, 25, 30
  • 2016 - 7, 11, 29
  • 2017 - 7, 5, 29
  • 2018 - 7, 8 ,1
  • 2019 - 9, 4, 25
  • 2020 - 12, 16, 23

So the guy puts in work as defensive QC coach for six years, pays his dues, and becomes the safeties coach. Subsequently, Eddie Jackson, the all world, ball-hawking safety turns into an average Joe safety, and the passing defense regresses for two straight years.

I know the players are coming out singing his praises, but that doesn't look like a guy I'd hire as a DC, regardless of how long he's been around or if he has a PhD. 

They have to come from somewhere. Brandon Staley is only two years removed from position coach and is already a HC. So there is not really a specific blueprint for making a good coordinator or HC. There are a ton of guys who paid their dues up to this point, 5 years at each level, for 20+ years, get their shot at Coordinator or HC, and fail miserably.

I think coaches get too much of the blame for team failures and too much credit for their successes. Jackson's performance difference is either tied to his injury or his new contract. There is literally a night and day difference between pre-injury Jackson and post-injury Jackson. So I don't know how much you can put that on Desai. 

At the end of the day, it takes the entire organization to succeed. Everyone has to buy in and have a common goal and do their little part. If even one or two of those cogs are not working at max efficiency, then the entire system is degraded. 

The hope is Desai uses his knowledge of Fangio's defense to put the players in the best position to succeed, then have the understanding to make in-game adjustments to slow down offenses. 

Also, the last variable, which is probably more impactful than we think is COVID. This last year has been unprecedented and having some continuity within the organization is probably a good thing. If they brought in someone from the outside who made drastic changes to the entire defense, how much improvement would be expected with such limited time to make those adjustments?

[Alaskan Grizzly]

8 hours ago, jason said:

Subsequently, Eddie Jackson, the all world, ball-hawking safety turns into an average Joe safety, and the passing defense regresses for two straight years.

At the outset this concerned me as well. But I think part of why Mike Pettine was hired was to help Desai make the transition.  And due to his (Desais) being a Fangio disciple, they believed he could bring back his style of defense; which was quite a bit more successful.  

Another thing to consider is the teams future after this year is uncertain and they were probably were having difficulty in getting already established candidates to consider the job. Even a candidate like Jay Rogers left to do the same job elsewhere probably based on that knowledge.  This is an inside hire with a guy they know.  Maybe because of his being an unknown it will be to the team’s advantage. I’ll be interested to see what he comes up with.