The Bears on Friday added another key component to new head coach Matt Nagy's staff, hiring Chris Tabor as special teams coordinator.
Tabor returns for a second stint with the Bears after serving as assistant special teams coach under coordinator Dave Toub on head coach Lovie Smith's staff from 2008-10.
Tabor spent the last seven seasons as the Browns special teams coordinator. Since his arrival in 2011, Cleveland ranks sixth in the NFL in kickoff return average against (21.8), seventh in punt return average (9.9), ninth in total kick return yards (8,974) and 10th in total return yards allowed (7,627).
New Bears special teams coordinator in 2016, then the special teams coordinator for the Browns.
During Tabor's tenure in Cleveland, the Browns were the only NFL team to have earned at least one AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award each season from 2011-2016. In total, the Browns won seven AFC Special Teams Player of the Week awards.
Tabor also helped kicker Phil Dawson and return specialist Joshua Cribbs both reach the Pro Bowl in 2012, marking just the second time in team history that two specialists made the annual all-star game in the same year.
Also under Tabor's watch, punter Britton Colquitt set the Browns net punting average record in consecutive seasons with 40.3 yards in 2016 and 40.6 in 2017. In 2015, kicker Travis Coons established an NFL record by making 18 consecutive field goals to start his career, while Andy Lee set a franchise record in punt average with 46.7 yards.
Tabor began his coaching career at the collegiate level, first as a graduate assistant at Missouri from 1997-99 and then as running backs and special teams coach in 2000.
He served as head coach at Culver-Stockton College in 2001 before working as an assistant at Utah State (2002-05) and Western Michigan (2006-07).
Former Bears long-snapper Patrick Mannelly weighed in on Twitter about the Bears' decision to hire Tabor:
