Bears hire Colts safeties coach Alan Williams as defensive coordinator

The Bears have hired former Indianapolis Colts safeties coach Alan Williams as their new defensive coordinator, the team announced. Williams has worked under new Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, the former Colts defensive coordinator, since 2018.

The team made the news official in a Twitter post Wednesday afternoon.

Eberflus reportedly is bringing several Colts defensive assistant coaches with him to Chicago. In addition to Williams, Colts linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi and cornerbacks coach James Rowe are reportedly coming to Chicago.

[ Updated: What we know about the front office, coaching staff the Bears are building ]

Williams, 52, has experience as a defensive coordinator in the NFL. He came up as a defensive backs coach under Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell in Indianapolis from 2002-11. Along the way, he helped the Colts win one Super Bowl and appear in another.

In 2012, he became the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator under head coach Leslie Frazier. He remained in that position for two years until the Vikings fired Frazier and his staff after the 2013 season.

After the Vikings, Williams spent 2014-17 as the defensive backs/safeties coach under Caldwell with the Detroit Lions. The Lions cleaned house after the 2017 season and Williams made his way to Indianapolis to team up with Eberflus, the defensive coordinator, under Colts head coach Frank Reich.

“Alan has really good command of the whole picture,” Reich said Tuesday. “Alan is fast on his feet as a thinker. Listening, being on the headset and hearing [Eberflus] call the defenses, interact with the defensive staff, hearing Alan’s input, hearing the dialogue between he and Flus, how dynamic it was, how much Flus trusted him over those four years seeing that relationship develop – I just think Alan has great energy on the field. Watching Alan run drills on the field, he’s got good energy, good body language, got a good positive vibe to him, can connect. So Alan’s an excellent football coach.”

During his introductory news conference Monday, Eberflus confirmed that he planned to implement his 4-3 defensive scheme in Chicago. That represents a shift from the Bears’ 3-4 scheme under former defensive coordinators Vic Fangio, Chuck Pagano and Sean Desai.

[ Hub Arkush: Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus make solid first impressions ]

Given that, it makes sense that Eberflus is bringing his assistants from Indianapolis, where the Colts ran his 4-3 scheme as well as any team in the NFL.

“We’re going to adjust and move and be flexible,” Eberflus said. “We’re going to look at the talent and the skill level of the players we have, and we’re going to coach and develop those guys, and we’ll fit our scheme around those players. But the foundational pieces won’t change in terms of how we play.”

Williams should be integral to that switch. He also should be the one calling plays for the defense. Eberflus said Monday that play calling duties will fall to his defensive coordinator. That will enable the head coach to focus on the big picture and game management.

“I do believe that to be the head football coach and be efficient at that, you are exactly the head football coach,” Eberflus said. “So I can be involved in all aspects of the game.”

For Desai, this likely spells the end of his run in Chicago. He had been the defensive coordinator for one season under Matt Nagy, but worked for the team since 2013. The Bears erased Desai’s bio from the team website Tuesday night. He had worked his way up from defensive quality control coach in 2013 to defensive coordinator, climbing the ranks under head coaches Marc Trestman, John Fox and Nagy.

The Bears now have two key coordinator positions filled. They already hired former Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy to be offensive coordinator.

[ Bears hire Packers QB coach Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator ]