Bears will hire former Oregon coach Mark Helfrich as Matt Nagy’s OC

Former Oregon coach and Chip Kelly protege Mark Helfrich is expected to be named the Bears’ offensive coordinator, sources told the Sun-Times. He is the top target of new Bears coach Matt Nagy.

Helfrich, a former quarterback at Southern Oregon, is most noted for working under Kelly at Oregon. He was Kelly’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator from 2009-12 — when the Ducks were 46-7 with a prolific offense. He took over as head coach when Kelly left to become the head coach of the Eagles and was 37-16 in for seasons — including a berth in the national championship game after the 2014 season. But he couldn’t maintain Kelly’s success — seasons of 11-2, 13-2, 9-4 and 4-8 — and was fired after the 2016 season.

As Oregon’s offensive coordinator, Helfrich did not call plays. He won’t with the Bears, either — Nagy will.

He also was being pursued by Kelly as an offensive coordinator at UCLA and Arizona for its vacant head-coaching job.

Helfrich was tutored by current Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter, a noted West Coast offense practitioner at Boise State and Arizona State.

Helfrich worked as an analyst for Fox Sports during the 2017 college football season.