Written by Brett Solesky | 12 January 2010

One thing you can honestly say about the Chicago Bears is that they play everything very close to the vest and don't let a lot of information out.  The media in Chicago is horrible at picking up inside information regarding this team, look no further than the Jay Cutler trade last year.  There wasn't one inkling the Bears were making a play for Cutler save for one small story from a national writer who heard that Angelo had placed a call into Denver if he was to go on the market. 

Two weeks later the Bears made that trade for Cutler, much to the shock of everyone in the country and in the Chicago media.  No one thought the Bears capable of such a move. 

Now this interview with Ken Zampese is no where near the scale of the Jay Cutler trade, but it simply proves that the Bears run a very tight ship and word doesn't tend to leak out very easily.  There may be a lot of speculation, but the information is never truly accurate. 

Zampese came in today to interview for the offensive coordinator position and by some accounts left as the front runner for the position.  I would say so, he's so far the only person who has interviewed for the position to this point. 

Zampese to me is Jeremy Bates part two, he's the son of a famous NFL coach (Ernie Zampese) and he's a long time QBs coach who has developed a talent for most of his career.  That talent is Carson Palmer who has quietly (when healthy) put together a solid career in Cincinnati. 

Looking over Palmer's career numbers you see that he has simply been overlooked as a good quarterback in the NFL.  He's had two seasons of over 4,000-yards passing and three seasons with 25 or more touchdown passes.  Palmer is also a career 63% completion percentage passer a pretty solid stat for an NFL QB.  Palmer has done all of this with six years as a starter, and with a full five seasons of playing 13 or more games.   Those numbers are impressive anyway you slice and it shows that Zampese knows what he's doing and has learned from the best. 

Zampese's coaching background is pretty strong as well having done stints with the Rams, the Packers and the Eagles learning from the best offensive minds in the game.  The word is Mike Martz feels that he is not being legitimately considered for the position, so he gave Smith the tip on Zampese as a coach. 

Zampese was hired as the Bengals' QB coach in 2003 the year the Bengals drafted Palmer, but Palmer did not play.  That year with Jon Kitna at the controls the Bengals finished 12th in the league in passing.  In 2005 Palmer's second full season as a starter in the NFL the Bengals finished fifth in the league in passing, in 2006 they were sixth overall, 2007 they were seventh overall.  With Palmer injured and only playing in four games in 2008 the Bengals hit their low point in passing offense finishing in the bottom five of the league. 

What you can see though is that the Bengals' passing offense has been consistent throughout the years and Palmer's progression as a QB has been solid.  This points to Zampese being a good coach with a solid QB background which is what the Bears are seeking in their OC.  Zampese's diverse background means he should bring an interesting style of offense to the Bears if hired.

< Prev		Next >