SANTA CLARA– It seems like a long time ago that Bears’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was in the discussion to replace Jim Harbaugh after he departed the 49ers three years ago. Instead defensive line coach Jim Tomsula got the head-coaching job over Fangio in what some termed as a power struggle.
We all know how that turned out.
Fangio landed in Chicago shortly thereafter and has consistently had the Bears playing better than their talent on defense. Now, he’ll once again face the 49ers, with the same defensive scheme he built for San Francisco back when the team went to three straight NFC title games.
Fangio employs big down defensive linemen and then likes to have his linebackers run and hit. He also plays numerous defenses and fronts, which often has the opposition putting in extra study time to keep up.
“He puts a lot of different defenses out there, it’s either to confuse quarterbacks or make it hard on offenses to scheme against them,” tight end Garrett Celek said. “As an offensive coordinator it would be hard to (game plan). You definitely need to study more.”
That’s not an optimal situation for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who is making his 49ers’ starting debut. It also might not make much of a difference, because Garoppolo will just run his plays, regardless of what the defense is doing.
Fangio was mainly beloved by the defensive players for his cerebral approach. While with Harbaugh at Stanford before coming to the 49ers, players called him “The Professor.”
Safety Eric Reid, the only player remaining from Fangio’s defense, said players used to love getting Fangio’s Friday “cheat sheet” – a list of plays and tendencies gleaned from Fangio’s film study of the opposing offense. Reid said the sheet was golden and filled with useful advantages.
Now Fangio will use his Friday “tip sheet” against the 49ers and newbie Garoppolo.