Pep Hamilton, in his third season as the Bears quarterbacks coach, was hired on March 5, 2007. A veteran of six seasons as an NFL assistant with a pair of prior organizations, Hamilton came to Chicago after one season as the offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

In his second season with the Bears, Hamilton tutored quarterback Kyle Orton to the fifth highest completion percentage in team history (58.5, 465 of 272, minimum 300 attempts). Orton also finished sixth in franchise annals in passing yards (2,972), tied for ninth in touchdown-to-interception ratio (1.5, 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions) and 13th in passer rating (79.6).

Under Hamilton’s direction, Orton threw a string of 205 passes without an interception during the 2008 season, the longest streak in franchise history. Orton did not throw an interception in nine of his 15 starts last year, tied for fourth most in the NFL.

A year earlier, Orton, Rex Grossman and Brian Griese led a passing attack that finished with the third-most gross passing yards in team history (3,701).

In his lone season in San Francisco, Hamilton helped young quarterback Alex Smith make strides in 2006. Smith became the first signal-caller in team history to take every snap from center over an entire campaign while completing 58.1 percent of his passes for 2,890 yards with 16 touchdowns, 16 interceptions and a 74.8 passer rating.

Before joining the 49ers, Hamilton spent three seasons with the New York Jets, joining the team as offensive quality control coach in 2003. In 2004, he was elevated to offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach where he was charged with the responsibility of acclimating free agent QB Quincy Carter to the Jets offensive system. With Hamilton’s tutelage, Carter led New York to a 2-1 record in three starts. Hamilton was named the team’s wide receivers coach for the 2005 season, helping Laveranues Coles catch 73 passes for 845 yards with five touchdowns to rank 14th among AFC receivers. Hamilton got his first NFL experience working as a summer coaching intern with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2000 and the Washington Redskins in 2001 and a pro personnel intern with the Baltimore Ravens during the summer of 2002.

The former college quarterback began his coaching career with four seasons at his alma mater of Howard University. He was the Bison’s quarterbacks coach from 1997-2001 while as serving as the team’s offensive coordinator from 1999-2001.

A quarterback at Howard from 1993-96, Hamilton earned the team’s scholar-athlete award two consecutive years (1995-96) before graduating with a business degree in 1997. Hamilton and his wife have one son and two daughters.