Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus added three more assistants to his staff Thursday — quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert and assistant defensive backs coach David Overstreet II.
Janocko, 33, joins the Bears after coaching with the Minnesota Vikings since 2015, most recently as their quarterbacks coach this season. Before that, he was their wide receivers coach in 2020. He started as an offensive quality control coach for two seasons before serving as the assistant offensive line coach for three seasons.
Janocko replaces John DeFilippo, who spent two seasons with the Bears, most recently coaching Justin Fields in his rookie season. DeFilippo also held the title of Bears passing game coordinator in 2021.
Janocko and new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy have ties to Pittsburgh, where Janocko was a backup quarterback. Getsy was a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 2010 and started his playing career there before transferring to Akron. They are both from Western Pennsylvania.
Janocko began his NFL career as an offensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012-13. He spent a year coaching quarterbacks at Division II Mercyhurst before joining Mike Zimmer’s staff in Minnesota.
In 2021, he worked with Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who threw for 4,221 yards, 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. The year before that, he coached Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson during a Pro Bowl rookie season in which Jefferson had 88 catches for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns.
Tolbert, 54, has been an NFL wide receivers coach since 2003 with the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and New York Giants. He also had nine years of college coaching experience before that.
Tolbert, who played wide receiver at LSU, spent the last four seasons with the Giants and before that worked for the Broncos for seven years, including the 2015 Super Bowl season. In Denver, he coached wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders during multiple Pro Bowl seasons.
The hires of Getsy, Janocko and Tolbert mean Fields will have an entirely new group of coaches to work with. But Fields, who threw for 1,870 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 10 games in 2021, said Monday that he was excited for a “fresh start.” He said he looks forward to communicating with his new coaches about his strengths as they build the new offense.
“I‘m excited,” Fields said. “I think everyone knows, not only my teammates, but everyone around here knows that I’m willing to do whatever to win, willing to put in however much work there is needed to be put in.”
Overstreet comes with Eberflus from the Indianapolis Colts, where Oversteet was also the assistant defensive backs coach. The former Missouri safety was with the Colts for four seasons, including the first three as a defensive quality control coach. He also coached at the community college level.
He is the son of the late David Overstreet Sr., who was a running back for Oklahoma and the Miami Dolphins. Overstreet Sr. was a high school teammate of former Bears coach Lovie Smith, and Overstreet II was a part of Bears rookie minicamp in 2007, according to the Bears website.
The Bears previously announced four hires to Eberflus’ staff: Getsy on Saturday and defensive coordinator Alan Williams, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi and offensive line coach Chris Morgan on Wednesday. Williams and Borgonzi also come from the Colts.
