Eddie George to Join Bears Staff for Off-Season Work

The Bears on Monday added someone who could be Hall-of-Fame material, but they didn't bring him in to play.

Former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George, a past semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the head football coach at Tennessee State, was named one of two OTA coaching staff members who are part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship.

The other is longtime college assistant Randy Shannon from Florida State.

George, the 1995 Heisman winner from Ohio State, played eight seasons for the Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers and also the 2004 season with Dallas. He made four straight Pro Bowls and had 95 yards rushing in Super Bowl XXIV when the Titans came up a yard short against Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams.

After his playing career, George earned an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management in 2009. He has had a wide-ranging career, from broadcast work to performing on Broadway before becoming head coach at Tennessee State in 2021.

Shannon is co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Florida State. He was the school's senior defensive analyst in 2021, a defensive coordinator at Central Florida for three seasons and a co-defensive coordiator at Florida. He also coached at Texas Christian, Arkansas and Miami.

The Bears will add six total Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching fellows for June minicamp, May and June OTAs and July/August training camp. Four more will be announced in June. 

The program seeks to use NFL training camps to give coaches and scouts experience in order to gain a full-time NFL coaching positions.