Desai praised for his preparation, intelligence

[Staley Da Bear]

McGovern recalls that Desai was inquisitive, eager to learn and always seeking to improve as a coach.


"He was just the most prepared guy," McGovern said. "Any drills that we did, he'd want to come down and say, 'Hey, tell me about the drill I saw you doing here. What do you think is the benefit to what you were doing? I think I can incorporate it here into one of my kicking drills.'


"He just kind of questioned everything but also challenged everything and tried to make it better and tried to get it as good as it could be."


Desai was promoted from safeties coach to defensive coordinator Jan. 22. He replaced Chuck Pagano, who announced his retirement Jan. 13 after 36 years in coaching, including the last two with the Bears.


Desai was originally hired by the Bears in 2013 and is the only remaining holdover from former coach Marc Trestman's staff. Desai spent six seasons as a defensive quality control assistant from 2013-18 before being promoted to safeties coach in 2019. From 2016-19, Desai worked under veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.


Bill Shuey, who's entering his fourth season with the Bears and first as outside linebackers coach, has complete faith in Desai.


"I've got a lot of confidence in Sean," said Shuey, who was promoted this year after working as a defensive quality control coach in 2018 and pass rush analyst/linebackers coach in 2019-20. "My first year here, Sean and I actually shared an office. So I got to learn early on how detailed of a guy and how efficient of a guy Sean is.


"He's been coaching a long time. He's had various roles. He paid his dues in that quality control role for a while. I also have done that in the past, so I can appreciate the grind that he went through to get to the opportunities that he's in.


"He's a smart guy, and like most of us, I think he would say this, it comes down to being around and being exposed to other great coaches and other great players and learning from them. Sean's background with Vic, with Chuck, and then prior to that, he's had some opportunities to be around some really great coaches. So I've got a lot of confidence in Sean and look forward to him having the opportunity to put his stamp on things."