The Chicago Bears are desperate to maximize the talent of former number-one overall pick Caleb Williams after a long line of failures at the quarterback position.
Unfortunately, Williams’s first year in the NFL did little to instill faith that he was the right guy to turn the franchise around. After Williams and Chicago got out to a 4-2 start under head coach Matt Eberflus, the team ended the year 5-12, with Eberflus being fired mid-season after an embarrassing loss on Thanksgiving Day.
In the offseason, Chicago hired former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as the franchise’s new head coach. Johnson has since got to work on building out his staff.
Now, he has his passing-game coordinator, according to one prominent NFL insider.
“The (Bears) are hiring former (Jaguars) OC Press Taylor as their passing game coordinator, sources say, a key hire for Ben Johnson and OC Declan Doyle. Taylor adds experience and expertise in Chicago, plus another voice for Caleb Williams,” reported NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Wednesday.
The #Bears are hiring former #Jaguars OC Press Taylor as their passing game coordinator, sources say, a key hire for Ben Johnson and OC Declan Doyle.
Taylor adds experience and expertise in Chicago, plus another voice for Caleb Williams. pic.twitter.com/ZFx5vhRkbK
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 30, 2025
It’s an interesting hire considering Taylor’s last season was spent with Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who regressed quite a bit, and the Jacksonville staff was turned over after the season ended.
Fans reacted to the hire on social media.
“Pass Game Coordinator is essentially the guy who does the “grunt work” for the OC. To be trusted to call plays in JAX, he had to show he could do everything else extremely well. He won’t even be 2nd in line to call plays here,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“He wasn’t hired to design the plays or to be the playcaller. He was hired to analyze the route concepts that could work against opposing dbs, study opposing db’s tendencies, and analyze the different angles they could attack the OP teams,” added one fan.
“talented alright… he somehow managed to get Doug Pederson fired, not once, but twice. Good luck, Chicago,” another fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see how Taylor does in his new role.
