Tice Named Bears Offensive Coordinator
(CBS) Mike Tice has been promoted to offensive coordinator by the Bears.
Tice has spent the last two seasons on the Bears staff as the offensive line coach and became more involved with the offense as Mike Martz started to fall out of favor. He has never been an offensive coordinator before.
"I'm excited to have Mike move into our offensive coordinator role," head coach Lovie Smith said. "He has been a valuable member of our staff over the past two years and has an excellent track record in the NFL. He was very impressive in his job interview yesterday and shares the same vision I have for our offense moving forward. We want to be a strong running team with a big-play pass attack."
Smith will also hire a passing coordinator who will work with the quarterbacks. Tice will "continue to have an active role" with the offensive line, according to Smith, but an additional offensive line coach will be hired. Tice will call the plays.
"Lovie and I share a similar mindset of what the Bears offense should look and feel like," Tice said. "There will be a toughness about us. We are going to be a powerful run team and we're going to be able to mix in explosive pass plays. It will be important for us to utilize the talents of our players and exploit match-ups each Sunday. We have athletes we can build with. I feel fortunate Lovie has placed the trust in me to help move us forward to a championship."
The hiring is not all that surprising considering the Bears blocked a request from the Titans to interview Tice last year. They obviously had bigger plans for him as Martz entered the last years of his contract.
