MOBILE, Ala. — Kerry Joseph hasn’t formed an opinion yet on the Chicago Bears’ major decision for the offseason, which will determine the outcome of the NFL draft.
The team’s The Bears have hired a new quarterbacks coach. He was hired on Friday. He is not familiar with the location of his office at Halas Hall yet. After the season ended, he had the freedom to seek a new job following his time with the Seattle Seahawks. forced out Pete Carroll, the coach of the Seahawks,.
hired Joseph, who was the assistant quarterbacks coach for the last two seasons, and he quickly transitioned to interviewing for the Bears job in Lake Forest. Immediately afterward, he went to Mobile, where he’s currently serving as the quarterbacks coach of the American team in the Senior Bowl.
Joseph somehow managed to acquire Bears gear and was seen wearing a team-issued navy hat, navy shorts, and a gray sweatshirt during practice at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the South Alabama campus on Tuesday.
His initial thoughts on Justin Fields are not yet formed. In 2021, when the Bears drafted Fields, Joseph was the assistant wide receivers coach in Seattle. He has not delved into this year’s draft, in which the Bears have the first and ninth picks and are in a position to pick a new quarterback.
“I was getting ready to come out here,” said the 50-year-old Joseph.
This marks his first time as an NFL position coach beyond the assistant position coach level. It's an easy connection to make. He previously worked with new Bears the offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who moved from the Seahawks. The Bears also interviewed Seahawks quarterbacks coach Greg Olson for the offensive coordinator role.
The last first-time quarterbacks coach the Bears hired was Shane Day in 2010 based on his experience working with then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz in San Francisco. Since then, the Bears have had Jeremy Bates, Matt Cavanaugh, Dowell Loggains, Dave Ragone, John DeFilippo, and most recently Andrew Janocko.
It might be seen as the most critical offseason for a Bears quarterbacks coach, but the urgency to get the position right has been ongoing. Coincidentally, they have the No. 1 draft pick and are preparing to thoroughly assess a talented group of passers, including USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye (who was observing practice on Tuesday), LSU’s Jayden Daniels, and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.
Joseph, who was responsible for red-zone preparation with the Seahawks, played a part in revitalizing Geno Smith’s career in Seattle, as Smith threw for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2022. Joseph’s understanding of Waldron’s system will be crucial whether the Bears draft a quarterback or not.
“When you look at Shane and what we accomplished with the (Seahawks) offense, I feel that quarterback play is based on having trust,” Joseph said. “Quarterback play is about being competitive. It’s about being intelligent, reliable, having a good understanding of the game, and being passionate.
“When you think about traits, when you discuss quarterback play and when you consider Shane’s mindset, it’s about being connected to the play caller, being linked to the offense. There are essential elements that you must possess and bring to the table.”
Joseph used to be a quarterback at McNeese State and had a 42-11 record as a four-year starter, helping the Cowboys to two Southland Conference titles. He spent time with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996 as an undrafted free agent before playing in NFL Europe. He attempted to make the Washington Redskins as a slot back and then played safety for the Seahawks from 1998 to 2001, appearing in 56 games with 14 starts.
He came back to quarterback in the Canadian Football League in 2003, winning a Grey Cup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2007, when he was named the league’s most outstanding player. After retiring following the 2014 season, he got into coaching at the college level with stops at his alma mater and Southeastern Louisiana before joining the Seahawks as an offensive assistant in 2020.
The varied background — having played defense in the NFL — gives him a different perspective to teach offensive football.
“It helps me tremendously,” Joseph said, “because playing the safety position, playing that dime (position), playing down in the box helped me understand how defenses attack the offense, how guys fit. So now that I’ve gone back to quarterback, I see it from a defensive mentality.
“Being able to help guys to understand the game, not just from the offensive side but from the defensive side, kind of helped (with) where to put their eyes. That’s what it did for me as a player, and I try to teach it that way with a defensive mentality.”
Joseph will learn where his office is soon, and then he can hit the ground running as the Bears prepare for the draft and install a new offense — quite possibly with a new quarterback. As far as his philosophy on developing a young quarterback, he leaned into some basic tenets.
“I use three things: accountability, responsibility, communication,” Joseph said. “It’s about trust, believing and having confidence in each other. A quarterbacks coach and a quarterback, you’ve got to have those three things.
“Then, hey, it’s about the fundamentals. It’s about developing the fundamentals, developing the mentality to be a good leader. To be a winner. Just willing to compete. There are so many things that I have in my philosophy as a person that I take into the coaching world and into the quarterback room to help develop a group of guys.”
()
