Former Chicago Bears All-Pro safety to reportedly interview for Jets coordinator opening

The list of former Chicago Bears who have become coaches continues to grow, and one former All-Pro Bear could be in line for a major step up.

Chris Harris will interview with the New York Jets for their defensive coordinator opening, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

The former Bears safety is currently the defensive pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Tennessee Titans.

Harris was a safety for the Bears for four seasons, in 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2011. Harris was a second-team All-Pro safety in the 2010 season, where the Bears last made the NFC Championship Game.

The Bears made the playoffs in all but one of the seasons where Harris was the starting safety, which was the 2011 season when the Bears released Harris midseason.

After retiring in 2013, Harris started a coaching career as a defensive quality control coach for the Bears. Harris was an assistant defensive backs coach for four seasons with the Chargers in San Diego and Los Angeles before taking over as the defensive backs coach in Washington under his former defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. Harris coached in Washington from 2020 to 2022.

Since 2023, Harris has been in Tennessee and has earned himself a growing reputation.

In the 2024 offseason, the Titans fired Mike Vrabel as head coach and hired Brian Callahan. Under Callahan, Harris was retained as the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator.

In the same offseason, the Bears requested to interview Harris for their open defensive coordinator position. The Bears ultimately hired Eric Washington away from Buffalo, but Harris was still given a chance with the team that drafted him out of Louisiana-Monroe in 2005.

Harris is just one of a handful of Bears from the 2006 Super Bowl team that has moved into the coaching ranks.

While Harris coaches at the NFL level, his teammates have taken over the high school ranks. 

Jason McKie, Rashied Davis and Olin Kreutz all coach at Carmel Catholic High School, with McKie as the head coach. Robbie Gould was just named head coach at St. Viator High School. 

The Bears backup quarterback that season, Brain Griese, is the quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He's in line for an offensive coordinator job in the future, too.

However, Harris could be the first former Bear from the Super Bowl XLI team to earn a head coaching job in the NFL. It seems likely he'll land a defensive coordinator job sooner rather than later.

BearsSports