Despite reports (rumors) that Jeremy Bates was not on the Bears' short list of candidates for their vacant quarterbacks coach position—all thanks to a seemingly make believe childish grudge—the team announced on Tuesday morning that they had hired Jay Cutler's former mentor and friend.
“I’m very excited to be working with Jeremy Bates again,” Cutler told ChicagoBears.com Tuesday. “We got the right guy for the job.”
One interesting note is that Cutler actually tweeted in response to those rumors just a few weeks ago, suggesting that fans may not want to believe everything they read. Sounds like Lovie Smith weighed the quarterback’s high-opinion of Bates heavily.
And why not? It’s not as if the 4,526 yards Cutler threw while under Bates back in 2008 wasn’t impressive. And it’s not—despite what Lovie Smith said early on—as if Bates will be running the passing game—something he was criticized for in Seattle.
And that’s the second interesting note: In the release sent out by the Bears today, nowhere did it mention the words “passing game coordinator”—words Lovie Smith used to describe the position they would fill after promoting Mike Tice to offensive coordinator in January.
A source in the organization confirmed to me, shortly after the announcement today, that Bates would not in fact coordinate the passing game. His role is solely that of quarterbacks coach. The team also informed me they would not hire anyone to fill the afore mentioned role.
Mike Tice will work with his whole staff to coordinate the entirety of the Bears’ offense in 2012. And the only vacancy left to fill is offensive line coach.
Personally, I like the move, and it’s something I said the Bears should do from day one. You can read the full press release below . . .
LAKE FOREST, IL – The Chicago Bears have reached an agreement with Jeremy Bates today to become the team’s quarterbacks coach.
Bates joins the Bears with eight years of coaching experience with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-03, offensive quality control; 2004, assistant quarterbacks), New York Jets (2005, quarterbacks), Denver Broncos (2006, offensive assistant; 2007 wide receivers/quarterbacks; 2008, quarterbacks), University of Southern California (2009, assistant head coach/quarterbacks) and Seattle Seahawks (2010, offensive coordinator).
While with the Broncos, Bates worked with current Bears quarterback Jay Cutler for each of their three seasons in Denver. In 2008, Cutler threw for a franchise record 4,526 yards en route to the Pro Bowl with Bates as his position coach as the Broncos had the second best offense in the NFL in terms of yards per game (395.8).
Cutler completed 762 of 1,220 passing attempts (62.5 percent) for 9,024 yards, 54 touchdowns and 37 interceptions for an 87.1 passer rating in 37 starts in Denver while Bates was there.
Prior to coaching, Bates lettered at Tennessee (1995) and Rice (1997 and 1999), playing quarterback at each institution.
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Tags: Jeremy Bates
