Bears promote Loggains to offensive coordinator
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LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Dowell Loggains appeared to be a likely choice to replace Adam Gase as Chicago's offensive coordinator, and the Bears wasted little time making it happen.
The Bears promoted Loggains from quarterbacks coach on Monday and maintained continuity after Jay Cutler produced one of his best seasons.
Loggains was widely viewed as a likely candidate for the job after Gase was hired as the Miami Dolphins' head coach on Saturday, given the way he connected with Cutler.
With Loggains taking over play-calling duties, the Bears are looking for a quarterbacks coach. Chicago finished 6-10 in its first season under coach John Fox and general manager Ryan Pace, but showed some progress after winning five games the previous season.
"Dowell played a critical role on our offense last year," Fox said in a statement. "He's an excellent coach with experience as a play-caller and a broad knowledge of offensive football. He has earned the respect of our players because they know he can help them get better."
Loggains and Gase played big roles in helping Cutler cut back on his turnovers and produce one of his steadiest seasons as a pro after he clashed with previous assistants.
Cutler had a career-high 92.3 passer rating and cut his interceptions from 18 to 11 in 15 games. His 64.4 percent completion rate, 2.3 percent interception rate and 7.58 yards passing per attempt were all the second best of his career.
"He's extremely talented, bright, has a lot of energy as well, has been around quarterbacks for a long time, played the position in high school, has been around really good coaches his entire career, been blessed in that regard. He's a sponge," Cutler said of Loggains before the season finale.
"He took all the good stuff from all the coaches. I'm not saying that he doesn't make his mistakes because we all do. But he's done a really good job of managing our room, from the three to me and he works well with the rest of the coaches developing the plan."
Loggains has eight years of NFL coaching experience and spent parts of two seasons as Tennessee's offensive coordinator.
He was Cleveland's quarterbacks coach in 2014, when the Browns passed for 3,678 yards — the 11th-highest total in franchise history.
Loggains worked for the Titans from 2006 to 2013, working as a coaching administrative assistant before getting promoted to quality control coach in 2008. He coached Tennessee's quarterbacks and coordinated the passing game from 2010 to 2012 and spent the final five games in 2012 plus the 2013 season as offensive coordinator.
Loggains worked with quarterbacks Kerry Collins, Vince Young, Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker during his time with the Titans, helping Tennessee post its sixth-highest total with 4,113 yards passing in 2011. Collins had the third-best passer rating of his career (82.2) in 2010.
Loggains was a quarterback and holder at the University Arkansas, where he played in 50 games.
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