The Chicago Bears have hired former Cleveland Browns head coach and former Green Been Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.
Pettine, 54, will serve as a senior defensive assistant for the Bears.
From 2018-2020, Pettine served as the Packers’ defensive coordinator, which predated head coach Matt LaFleur’s tenure by a year.
Pettine’s contract expired at the end of the 2020 season and the Packers chose not to renew it.
We have hired Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant and made two additional coaching changes. https://t.co/vvpSAToFiB
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) February 10, 2021
The Packers lost to the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-26 in the NFC Championship game.
Tom Brady’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Scotty Miller right before the end of the first half helped put the Buccaneers ahead 21-10 and proved to be a costly play.
LaFleur was critical of the defensive coverage in the postgame.
“It was man coverage. Definitely not the right call for the situation, and you can’t do stuff like that against a good football team and expect to win,” LaFleur said. “Really, when you look at it, there [were] 120 some-odd plays on both sides of the ball plus all the special teams. There were a lot of plays in that game that could have been made, that could have changed the outcome of the game.”
LaFleur also stood by his decision to kick a field goal late in the fourth quarter to cut the Buccaneers’ deficit to 31-26 instead of going for it on 4th and goal from the 8-yard line.
NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense never got the ball back.
In the 2020 season, the Packers ranked ninth in the NFL in total defense (334 yards per game allowed) and ranked ninth in the league in points allowed per game (19.6).
The Packers tied for 13th in rushing yards allowed per game (112.81), and finished 21st in rushing yards allowed per play in 2020.
In 2020, the Packers defensive finished seventh in the NFL in passing (221.19 yards per game), tied for 10th in sacks (41), tied for 26th in turnovers forced (18) and eighth in red-zone touchdown percentage (57.7).
On Wednesday, the Bears also announced the promotion of Mike Synder from offensive quality control coach to the same title plus assistant quarterbacks coach and Henry Burris from Bill Walsh Coaching Fellow to offensive quality control coach.
The Packers went 13-3 during the 2019 regular season and lost in the NFC Championship to the San Francisco 49ers 37-20.
In 2018, the Packers went 6-9-1 before firing head coach Mike McCarthy.
Pettine went 10-22 as the Browns’ head coach from 2014-2015.
He began his Browns’ tenure with a 7-4 record during ether 2014 season, but the Browns lost their final five games to finish 7-9.
After the Browns went 3-13 in the 2015 season, Pettine was fired along with general manager Ray Farmer.
Pettine served as a consultant for the Seahawks in 2017.
Prior to his coaching stint with the Browns, Pettine was the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator (2013) and the New York Jets defensive coordinator (2009-2012).
The Jets made back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship game in 2009-2010.
Pettine has also worked for the Baltimore Ravens as a coaching assistant (2002-2003), assistant defensive line coach (2004) and outside linebackers coach (2005-2008).
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