Bears Hire Turner to Fix Their Offense

Nearly seven weeks after he was fired as head coach at Illinois, Ron Turner returned to the Chicago Bears for a second stint as their offensive coordinator.

Turner had the opportunity to take the same position with the Baltimore Ravens, where Coach Brian Billick is a good friend, but said he picked the Bears because they were a better fit professionally and personally.

“I had two very good options. I felt it was the best one for me and my family,” he said.

Turner signed a three-year deal worth a reported $500,000 per season.

Geography was a factor in his decision.

Turner has four children, including a son who plays at Centennial High in Champaign, Ill., and he said Sunday that the family is still deciding whether to stay put 150 miles away or move back to Chicago.

He replaces Terry Shea, who was fired after one season.

The injury-ravaged Bears were 5-11 and were last in most of the league’s offensive categories, including scoring and total yards.

They also set franchise records for penalties and sacks allowed.

Turner was the Bears’ offensive coordinator from 1993 to ’96 under Dave Wannstedt. In 1995, the Bears set several team records when its offense ranked ninth in the NFL.

*

His team has been eliminated from the playoffs, but coach of the year Marty Schottenheimer and the San Diego Charger front office still have quite a bit of work to do.

The immediate concern for the Chargers is what to do with quarterback Drew Brees, since they have Philip Rivers sitting on the bench with a $40-million contract.

The most likely scenario is that the Chargers, who will have $21 million freed up under the salary cap, will put the franchise tag on Brees and give him a $9-million contract for next season. They can either let him compete with Rivers for the starting job, or trade him.

The Chargers also are working on a contract extension for Schottenheimer, who has one year to go on his original deal.

San Diego will have two first-round picks in April’s draft, theirs and the one they got from the New York Giants when they received Rivers for Eli Manning in a draft-day deal.

San Diego also gets the Giants’ fifth-round pick.