The Chicago Bears finished their season with a 5-12 record and finished dead last in the NFC North standings.
The Bears were without a head coach for most of their season and came into this offseason looking for one after firing former head coach Matt Eberflus after a controversial play where he didn’t call a timeout on Thanksgiving.
Since then the Bears have found their new head coach in Ben Johnson who will hopefully lead the Bears to a more successful season. That all starts with Johnson forming a worthy coaching staff to help him lead the Bears there and one member from the old regime’s staff will be sticking around under Johnson.
Jim Dray will be sticking around with the Chicago Bears
The Bears will be retaining their tight ends coach Jim Dray going into next season per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, as he will be the only member from Matt Eberflus’s staff to return under Johnson. Dray will be entering his fourth season with the Bears when this season starts and will look to have his group of tight ends be more of a focal point in this year’s offense.
“Ben Johnson is retaining one position coach from Matt Eberflus’ staff. Jim Dray will return with the #Bears as tight ends coach, sources said.”
Ben Johnson is retaining one position coach from Matt Eberflus' staff.
Jim Dray will return with the #Bears as tight ends coach, sources said.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) February 1, 2025
The Bear’s current group of tight ends consists of Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, and Mercedes Lewis with Kmet being the top option. The 25-year-old Kmet was drafted by the Bears in the second round, 43rd overall, in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Since joining the Bears Kmet has shown to be durable playing in every single game the Bears have had playing in a total of 84 games for his career. From an offensive standpoint, Kmet was decent having a total of 474 yards (105th) and 4 touchdowns (tied for 62nd) last season. As for Everett and Lewis, they are both solid NFL tight ends who had decent production last season.
Going into this season
Dray will need to get his tight ends more involved in this year’s offense with Johnson looking to overhaul this offense who were one of the worst in the league. The tight end position for this season should be crucial from the standpoint of the run game with Kmet showing to be a better blocking tight end who can give you some yards here and there.
However, with Caleb Williams looking to take his game to the next level, the Bears will need their tight ends to be more efficient from an offensive standpoint if the Bears want to throw off opposing defenses. Nobody is asking for Dray to turn his tight end core into Travis Kelce, but if he can get them somewhere to being like a Zach Ertz type who can block for you when needed, but be that offensive threat then that would be perfect for the Bears.
Johnson staff is taking shape
The Bears are continuing to move in the right direction under Johnson with his coaching staff starting to take shape.
Under his guidance and tutelage, the Bears should be better next season.
Keeping Dray around for some levels of continuity does help and he wasn’t the worst part of the Bears staff last season so keeping him around doesn’t hurt.
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