Report: Chicago Bears Hire Dan Roushar as Offensive Line Coach

Ben Johnson’s initial Chicago Bears coaching staff is starting to come together, and today, they finally have identified the guy to fix their most critical weakness. A man with nearly four decades of experience in building up the offensive trenches between college and the pros.

Per the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs, who has been on the story for over a week now, the Bears are hiring Dan Roushar as their offensive line coach. He was most recently serving in the same role with Tulane.

In all, Dan has been coaching football for over 36 years, dating back to his days as an assistant at Butler in 1986. Dan has coached offensive line, running backs, tight ends, and even quarterbacks throughout his career. He’s spent a long time in the collegiate ranks and ten seasons in the pros, with all ten of those years in the pros being spent on the New Orleans Saints staff. The former Northern Illinois graduate has been considered one of the very best in the business for this field of work.

His greatest masterpiece was his offensive line for the New Orleans Saints from 2016 through 2020. They ranked in the top five in most pass protection and run blocking metrics, including within the top three in the fewest sacks surrendered. That’ll be a welcomed sight for Caleb Williams, who was sacked a league-high 61 times last year. A season the Bears most certainly don’t want to see their young franchise quarterback endure again.

The list of hogs coached under him is outstanding. Some of the players coached by Dan Roushar include All-Pro OT Ryan Ramczyk, along with Pro Bowl players like OT Terron Armstead, OC Max Unger, OG Larry Warford, and OT/OG Andrus Peat. Dan’s work in getting Max Unger to his former Pro Bowler self in 2018 after previously experiencing a drop off is particularly noteworthy.

He’s one of the few coaches in the business to feature at least one Pro Bowler at Tackle, Guard, and Center on their resume. He’s set to bring to Chicago an inside-out approach towards pass protection, which will be aimed at fixing the Bears’ weakest link with the interior of their O-line. Don’t forget he also engineered some of the league’s best run concepts while in New Orleans.

Dan Roushar also worked alongside recently hired offensive coordinator Declan Doyle while both were with the Saints. This feels like a natural fit all-round, and it will provide a sense of relief to have a seasoned veteran handle such a huge task in fielding a competent group up front. Dan Roushar is joined by Antwaan Randle El, J.T. Barrett, and Press Taylor as assistants for coordinator Declan Doyle and the offensive staff under Ben Johnson.