If Richard Hightower can do to the Packers in the future what he did last time they met, Bears fans will build a statue of him. As it is, he’ll get two chances a year to try.
Ten days after Bears head coach Matt Eberflus was hired, he landed his third and final coordinator Sunday: Hightower, who spent the last five seasons as the 49ers’ special teams coordinator.
It was in that role last month that Hightower led a game-changing special teams unit to a 13-10 win at Lambeau Field in the NFC divisional playoffs. As the first half was expiring, the 49ers’ Jimmie Ward blocked Mason Crosby’s 39-yard field goal that would have put the top-seeded Packers up 10-0. With just under five minutes to play in the game and the 49ers down by seven, defensive lineman Jordan Willis blocked a Packers punt that landed at the 6 and was scooped up by rookie safety Talanoa Hufanga, who returned it for a score that tied the game. The 49ers won the game at the gun when kicker Robbie Gould made a 45-yard field goal.
Hightower, 41, spent the last five seasons as the special teams coordinator for the 49ers after serving as the Bears’ assistant special teams coach in 2016 under Jeff Rodgers.
In leaving the 49ers, he is parting with longtime friend Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers head coach played alongside Hightower at the University of Texas. The two were both walk-ons — Hightower was a defensive back on an academic scholarship — who were awarded scholarships by coach Mack Brown on the same day in 2002.
Hightower began his NFL career as a Texans coaching assistant in 2006 and was promoted to special teams assistant in 2008. He was the receivers coach at the University of Minnesota in 2009 and the assistant special teams coach for the Commanders from 2010-13. He handled offensive quality control for the 2014 Browns and was a special teams assistant for the 2015 49ers before joining the Bears.
He’ll have a hard act to follow after former Bears special teams boss Chris Tabor signed with the Panthers. Despite their star turn against the Packers, the 49ers were ordinary on special teams all season. The 49ers ranked No. 25 in Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings, the most well-respected measure in the sport, in 2021. The Bears, by contrast, were No. 9. Football Outsiders ranked the 49ers No. 26 and the Bears No. 7.
The Bears also considered former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia for their special teams position, but he has reportedly been talking to the Packers — who unsurprisingly fired their own special teams coach after the playoff debacle — about a job.
Eberflus is inching closer to filling out his coaching staff. All three coordinator positions are now spoken for. He’s hired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, the former Packers quarterbacks coach, and defensive coordinator Alan Williams, his former Colts deputy, since taking over Jan. 27.
