Bears finalize coaching staff by adding 2 more assistants

On Friday the Chicago Bears announced that with the additions of assistant defensive line coach Justin Hinds and Kevin Koch as a coaching assistant, that head coach Matt Eberflus’ 2022 coaching staff is complete.

Hinds will begin his first year as an NFL coach, but he has 13 years of experience, with his most recent time being spent as the 2021 defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Western Carolina, which is in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Prior to that, Hinds was the defensive line coach at Central Michigan for two seasons. In 2018 he had the same title at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, and the two years prior to that he was the d-line coach and academic coordinator at Valdosta State.

He was a graduate assistant at Florida in 2015 and at Mississippi State in 2014, and he worked with the defensive line at both stops. Hinds coached defensive linemen and outside linebackers at Wagner (2012-13), and the two years before that he was an assistant high school coach in New Jersey at Plainfield High (2010) and at Woodbridge High (2011). His first coaching gig was at his his alma mater, Rowan University, as a defensive assistant in 2009.

Koch, who is from Elmhurst, Illinois and played his high school ball at Immaculate Conception where he was a quarterback, has spent the last 5 years at Northwestern. He began there as a defensive grad assistant (2017-18), but was promoted to defensive quality control analyst the last three seasons.

In 2016 he was with Benedictine University where he spent time coaching tight ends, running backs, and he was their special teams coordinator, as well as heading up their recruiting efforts in the Chicagoland area. Before that he spent two years coaching at his alma mater, Minnesota State University Moorehead, where he coached the defensive backs and special teams. His coaching journey began in 2013 with Robert Morris University where as a grad assistant he worked with the running backs, offensive line, and tight ends.

Here’s the full coaching staff for the 2022 Chicago Bears.

• Head Coach: Matt Eberflus
• Offensive Coordinator: Luke Getsy
• Defensive Coordinator: Alan Williams
• Special Teams Coordinator: Richard Hightower
• Offensive Line: Chris Morgan
• Assistant Offensive Line: Austin King
• Quarterback: Andrew Janocko
• Wide Receivers/Passing game coordinator: Tyke Tolbert
• Running Backs: David Walker
• Tight Ends: Jim Dray
• Assistant Tight Ends: Tim Zetts
• Offensive Quality Control: Omar Young
• Linebackers: Dave Borgonzi
• Defensive Line: Travis Smith
• Assistant Defensive Line: Justin Hinds
• Defensive backs: James Rowe
• Safeties: Andre Curtis
• Assistant DB: David Overstreet II
• Assistant Special Teams: Carlos Polk
• Coaching assistant: Kevin Koch
• Defensive Quality Control: Ronell Williams*
• Assistant strength and conditioning: Anthony Hibbert*
• Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Casey Kramer*

* Holdovers from the previous regime

Once free agency and the NFL Draft concludes it’s likely that new general manager Ryan Poles will make some more changes to Chicago’s front office. Thus far his only high profile move has been to add assistant general manager Ian Cunningham.