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Andre Curtis is in his first year as the safeties coach for the Bears in 2022. He joins the Bears with 22 years of coaching experience, including 16 in the NFL.

Andre Curtis is in his first year as the safeties coach for the Bears in 2022.

He joins the Bears with 22 years of coaching experience, including 16 in the NFL. He spent the past seven seasons in Seattle where he most recently served as the team's defensive passing game coordinator (2018-22).

During his tenure in Seattle, six defensive backs combined to make nine trips to the Pro Bowl in Kam Chancellor (2015), Richard Sherman (2015, 2016), Earl Thomas (2015, 2017), Shaquill Griffin (2019), Jamal Adams (2020) and Quandre Diggs (2020, 2021).

In 2021, Curtis coached Diggs to his second-career Pro Bowl selection after recording five interceptions for the second-straight year. Diggs is currently the only player in the NFL to record at least three interceptions in each of the last five seasons. With Curtis' assistance, the safety also recorded a career-high 94 tackles. Meanwhile, Adams also had a standout season despite missing five games due to injury. Adams finished the season with 87 total tackles, two interceptions and five passes defensed.

In 2020, he coached Adams and Diggs to the Pro Bowl. With Curtis' assistance, Adams set the NFL record for most sacks by a defensive back in a season (9.5) and became the first defensive back to lead his team in sacks since 2011 (Roman Harper, 7.5). Diggs led the team with five interceptions, tying him for fourth in the NFL. In total, Seattle intercepted 14 passes, tying them for 10th in the NFL with 22 takeaways.

The 2019 season saw cornerback Griffin earn his first Pro Bowl appearance after he posted a career-high 65 tackles (45 solo) and 13 passes defensed, ranking 14th in the league. Cornerback Tre Flowers record a career-high three interceptions. Curtis also began tutoring Diggs mid-season, after a trade with Detroit. Diggs presence was immediately felt with veteran leadership and three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.

By the end of the 2018 season, Seattle's secondary saw three new starters in the backfield in Flowers, safety Bradley McDougald and safety Tedric Thompson, teaming with Griffin.

In 2017, Curtis oversaw Seattle's defensive backs unit, a position he was promoted into in 2016. During the 2017 season, Thomas returned from a broken leg suffered in 2016 and was named All-Pro for the fifth time. He also was selected to his sixth-career Pro Bowl after recording 88 tackles (56 solo) and two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. In 2016, Curtis coached Sherman to his fourth Pro Bowl, after the cornerback recorded a team-leading four interceptions in 2016.

In his first season with Seattle in 2015, he worked as an assistant secondary and safeties coach. With Curtis' help, the Seahawks secondary boasted three Pro Bowlers in Chancellor, Sherman and Thomas for the third consecutive season as they helped Seattle rank second in total defense (291.8 ypg) and in pass defense (210.3 ypg) in the NFL.

Prior to his arrival in Seattle, Curtis spent two seasons with the New Orleans Saints as the assistant secondary coach (2012-14). In 2014, he worked closely with safety Kenny Vaccaro and cornerback Keenan Lewis. Vaccaro was a PFWA All-Rookie selection as he led the secondary with 93 tackles and Lewis led the team with a career-high four interceptions in 2013.

Curtis joined the NFL as a defensive quality control coach for the N.Y. Giants from 2006-08. He then went on to coach the defensive backs/safeties for the St. Louis Rams from 2009-11. In 2011, the Rams finished seventh in the NFL in pass defense (206.7 ypg).

Prior to the NFL, he coached the defensive ends at Georgia Southern (2004-05) and linebackers at his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute (VMI), from 2000-03. While on the VMI staff, Curtis worked for the N.Y. Jets during training camp in 2002. He assisted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during training camp in 2013 as a part of the NFL's Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship.

Curtis was a four-year letterwinner as a linebacker at VMI from 1996-99. He started 31 consecutive games and finished his career with 354 tackles, while earning second-team All-Southern Conference honors in 1998.

Curtis is a native of Beaverdam, Va., and has a bachelor's degree in economics and business from VMI.