Getty Titans head coach Mike Vrabel will need a new run game analyst for the 2023 season.
Matt Eberflus is adding another notable offensive assistant coach to his Chicago Bears coaching staff for the 2023 season.
According to Sam Phalen of A to Z Sports, the Bears are poaching Tennessee Titans longtime assistant Luke Steckel from Mike Vrabel’s staff after he spent the past decade climbing the ladder on their coaching staff. He did not specify what his new role will be.
Steckel has been a rising star in the offensive coaching ranks over the past several years and spent the past two seasons coaching up the Titans’ tight ends before getting re-assigned to the role of run game analyst this offseason. The 37-year-old assistant also interviewed for the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator job back in January, but he lost out on the job to former Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Now, Steckel will head to Chicago for a job that might offer him a title promotion. The Bears do not have a hole in their offensive coaching staff that he would obviously fill, but they do have a passing game coordinator — wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert — and no set run game coordinator. Perhaps, Steckel will play a more meaningful role running the Bears offense alongside offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
The Bears have not yet officially announced Steckel’s hiring, but the official release should have more details about what specific role he will play in the 2023 staff.
Steckel Helped Vastly Improve Titans TE Spot in 2022
Steckel had a rough go of things during his first season as the Titans’ tight ends coach. He had inherited a tight ends group that had been one of the most productive in the league in 2020, but he was also charged with upholding the same standard without top starter Jonnu Smith or any other meaningful additions to the position group that included Geoff Swaim, MyCole Pruitt and Anthony Firkser.
The result? The Titans’ tight end room declined in every main category of production: receptions (94 to 82), receiving yards (967 to 667) and touchdowns (12 to eight).
Rather than blame Steckel for the underwhelming output, though, the Titans went out and got him better talent during the offseason with the signing of Austin Hooper in free agency and the drafting of Chigoziem Okonkwo. Together, they combined for 73 receptions for 894 yards and five touchdowns under Steckel’s leadership with Hooper recording the second-most receptions (44) on the roster. Even with Tennessee finishing with the third-worst passing offense in the league, he got the job done at his position.
Could Bears Add More Talent to TE Room for 2023?
When the new league year begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 15, the Bears won’t be in the market for a new starting tight end. They seem satisfied with what Cole Kmet brings to the table after he caught a team-high 50 passes in 2022 and went on a nice little scoring stretch midseason that saw him find the end zone five times in three games.
“I thought Cole did a really good job,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said during his end-of-season press conference in January. “I thought he elevated his game from the film that I watched last year to what it was this year, so that’s exciting. I mean, that’s one that comes to mind right now.”
The problem, however, is the depth behind Kmet — or rather, the lack thereof. The Bears carried Ryan Griffin (15 games played) and Trevon Wesco (14 games played) on their roster for the majority of the season, but the two of them combined for just six catches and 52 receiving yards on 12 targets, essentially disappearing into the background of a team craving more effective pass-catchers. Even though Wesco was a solid blocker at times, the Bears could be getting more out of the position.
To solve the problem, the Bears could put to use a small portion of their nearly $100 million in cap space and secure another experienced pass-catcher for the group. Or, a more promising approach could be investing a Day 3 pick into a rookie tight end, especially since Poles avoided drafting for that position in his first go-round in 2022.
