Should we like the Loggains promotion? Yep
After Adam Gase took the head coaching job in Miami, the Bears decided to promote Dowell Loggains from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator after his first season with the team.
Loggains was the quarterbacks coach for the Tennessee Titans beginning in 2010 before being named the offensive coordinator in the middle of the 2012 season. While in Tennessee, he coached Vince Young before the team signed Matt Hasselbeck and drafted Jake Locker in 2011. When Loggains was basically forced out of Tennessee, the Cleveland Browns (sigh) hired him to be their quarterbacks coach and assist in the raising of a new quarterback – who turned out to be Johnny Football. After 2014, Loggains accepted the same position with the Bears before being promoted a few days ago to OC.
Young started eight games in Loggains’ first season as QB coach for the Titans and threw for 1,225 yards with 10 touchdowns and only three interceptions for a completion percentage of nearly 60. Seasoned quarterback Hasselbeck started all 16 games in 2011 while Locker sat behind him to learn the offense. Since the NFL began using QBR as a stat in 2006, Hasselbeck totaled his second highest of his career of 52.25, only .04 behind his highest in 2007. 2011 was Hasselbeck’s last season as a full-time quarterback, and only started 13 games the last four seasons.
Locker started 11 games in 2012, completing 56.4% of his passes. However, he was picked off 11 times compared to only 10 TD throws. In 2013, Locker started the first seven games before getting injured. Through those games, his passer rating was at 86.7, and he became smarter with the ball only throwing four interceptions with eight touchdowns.
Despite starting the 2013 season 3-1, the Titans fell off, especially when Locker got hurt. After the season, Titans’ ownership wasn’t happy with his pass-heavy regimen and he was let go. The Browns had him in mind for either their QB coach or OC, but ultimately chose the former. The team drafted Manziel late in the first round, and he became Loggains’ project.
Brian Hoyer was named the starting quarterback out of training camp. Although his performance wasn’t the greatest – 55.3% completion, 12 TDs to 13 INTs, and a less than 40 QBR – the team stuck with him for the first 13 starts. In Manziel’s two starts he received, he was 18-for-35 with two interceptions. A 42 passer rating and an 8.03 QBR is not exactly ideal, despite it only being a couple of games. Loggains was fired after the 2014 season.
When John Fox was brought on to take the head coaching reigns for the Bears, people were excited for a new direction. Fox brought Gase with him from Denver to be the OC and they added Loggains to help Cutler under a new regimen.
Jay Cutler‘s completion percentage and total touchdowns were down from 2014. However, his QBR (60.67) and passer rating (92.3) increased significantly from a year ago. In addition, the Vanderbilt-product had four fourth quarter comebacks and four game-winning drives, which equaled 2013 and 2014 combined.
A good amount of this success comes from Gase, as well, but a quarterback coach deserves some credit after an improved season for a guy that the fans were ready to give up in Cutler. Jay threw 78 fewer passes than a year ago, but did lower his completion percentage by a point and a half. The key was efficiency as Cutler was less than 200 yards away from matching his 2014 total with 3,659. Also, his yards per attempt increased by nearly a yard.
A factor in this comes by Matt Forte having his receiving targets cut in half. The Bears would hand the ball off, or would throw to their receivers; in short, they didn’t mess around. This was able to have Forte become more effective on the ground with his rising age, and let Cutler develop a better feeling with his wide-outs.
Has Loggains had the most success as a quarterback coach with the Titans or Browns? No. Has he had some? Yes. Most importantly, he had success with our quarterback, Jay Cutler, this past season. The numbers don’t lie. Aside from those, Cutler looked to become a better teammate (i.e. not yelling at his line, showing emotion that brought down the team, etc.)
Adding Kevin White into the offense in 2016, along with improving the offensive line will only make Cutler better. I remember this time last year I was one of those that was fed up with Cutler and just wanted to get through 2015 so we could cut him and draft a new guy. But after this season, I saw some very good signs that the team can build upon for 2016. The ultimate goal is improving the defense, but in order for Cutler to have a year as he did this season the team needs to add some o-line quality depth.
And keep the quarterback coach turned offensive coordinator that – what looks like for now – has put Jay Cutler back on track.
*featured picture is courtesy of michaelpiff.com
