Bears coach Matt Nagy on Tuesday announced the hiring of Mark DeLeone as inside linebackers coach.
Nagy and DeLeone worked together for five seasons on Andy Reid's staff with the Chiefs from 2013-17. DeLeone spent a total of six years with Kansas City as a defensive quality control assistant (2013-14), assistant linebackers coach (2015-17) and inside linebackers coach (2018).
The Chiefs made the playoffs in five of DeLeone's six seasons with the team. In his first three years, Kansas City linebackers Tamba Ali, Justin Houston and Derrick Johnson combined to earn eight Pro Bowl invitations.
In 2014, Houston was named the Derrick Thomas award winner as team MVP after setting a Chiefs record and leading the NFL with 22.0 sacks.
DeLeone entered the NFL in 2012 as a defensive assistant with the New York Jets.
A Syracuse, N.Y., native who graduated from Iowa in 2009, DeLeone began his coaching career as a defensive student assistant with the Hawkeyes in 2007-08.
He later served as director of football operations and assistant offensive line coach at New Hampshire in 2009, quality control coach at Florida in 2010 and a graduate assistant at Temple in 2011.
With the Bears, DeLeone will coach a position group that includes a pair of Pro Bowl alternates in Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan.
After being selected by the Bears with the eighth pick in the 2018 draft, Smith led the defense with 122 tackles, two shy of Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher's single-season rookie franchise record. Smith also generated five sacks and eight tackles-for-loss.
The veteran Trevathan ranked second on the defense with 102 tackles and registered two sacks, eight tackles-for-loss, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
