Bears hire Carlos Polk as assistant special teams coach

On Friday the Chicago added another member to Matt Eberflus’ coaching staff, his seventeenth so far, in new assistant special teams coach Carols Polk.

Polk has been coaching since 2009, the first year his playing career ended, when he was hired as the assistant special teams coach Grossmont Junior College

In 2010 the team that initially selected him in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers, hired him as their assistant special teams coach, and he stayed with the Chargers until 2012.

In 2013 he worked as a coaching intern for the Dallas Cowboys, which was the team he spent his final year in the NFL with (in 2008).

From 2014 to 2018 he was the assistant special teams coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then in 2019 he was back in Dallas as their assistant special teams coach. He had that same role with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season.

As a player he started just 6 of the 74 games he played in during his seven year career at linebacker, so he played plenty of special teams during his time in the league. He’ll now work along side Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower to build off of Chicago’s third phase success from a year ago.