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Mike Pettine will start his 18th season with the Chicago Bears as an NFL coach.
Pettine was recently the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator, and will now join the Bears' staff as a senior defensive assistant.
The Packers have replaced their veteran coach with Joe Barry.
Pettine spent the last three years with the Packers before the team decided not to renew his contract.
The decision came after a crushing NFC championship defeat against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Under Pettine, Green Bay finished 22nd, 9th, and 13th respectively in the league's scoring.
Last season, the Packers were seventh in the league in passing, 13th in rushing, and tied for eighth in sacks.
Against Tampa Bay, Pettine's system held the Super Bowl winners to 19 first downs and 2-of-8 on third down. But Green Bay struggled to overcome Tom Brady's three touchdown passes in the first 30 minutes of the game.
The Packers' defense grappled and failed to stop Leonard Fournette's 20-yard touchdown run. The Buccaneers annihilated through a 28-10 lead.
Green Bay's defense needed to overcome a five-point deficit with 2:05 minutes remaining.
Instead, they received two penalties that allowed the Buccaneers to keep the ball for the rest of the game.
Before the Packers
Pettine started out as a coaching assistant in 2002 for the Baltimore Ravens and then moved up to assistant defensive line coach in 2004 and outside linebackers coach in 2005-2008.
Pettine was the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets in 2009. He appeared in two consecutive AFC championship games.
Pettine spent a year with the Buffalo Bills (2013) before spending two seasons as head coach for the Cleveland Browns, followed by a year as a consultant with the Seattle Seahawks. He was hired by the Packers in 2017.
How did the Bears perform in 2020?
In the 2020 season, Chicago had the NFL's 12th-best pass defense in the 2020 season.
Pettine has a talented group to work with for the 2021 season.
The Bears' starting safety finished the season in a tie for the franchise lead with interceptions.
Eddie Jackson was named a Pro Bowler the previous two seasons. Jackson set a career-high with 82 tackles and three forced fumbles.
Chicago's defense has Roquan Smith, who had 139 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions in the 2020 season.
Chicago clinched a playoff berth for the second time under Matt Nagy's three seasons as coach.
