With money wrapped up in the defensive line with the sizable contracts of Tommie Harris and Adewale Ogunleye and a modest one with Alex Brown, much was expected of the Bears defensive line. What they got was quite different. The biggest downfall of the Bears defense this year was the inability to generate a consistent pass rush. You can lay blame in a lot of places bad scheme, overrated players, unimaginative play calling, but in the end you must work with what you have.
That leads us to Brick Haley, the Bears defensive line coach. Haley, though it has not officially been announced, is expected to take over as the defensive line coach at LSU. That in turn brings us back to the recently interviewing of former Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli. Marinelli and Coach Smith have history and are good friends. Marinelli has also interviewed with Seattle about their vacant defensive coordinator position.
I think the Bears are looking at Marinelli as an upgrade over Haley, but also as defensive cooridinator in waiting of sorts. They will give Babich another year to prove he can do the job and if he doesn't they can easily make the transistion to Marinelli.
Marinelli signing or not, the Bears will have a new defensive line coach next year.