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Andrew Janocko
Quarterbacks
College: Pittsburgh
Hometown: Clearfield, PA
Biography
Andrew Janocko enters his second season as the Bears quarterbacks coach in 2023.
Andrew Janocko enters his second season as the Bears quarterbacks coach in 2023.
Janocko has 13 years of coaching experience, including 10 in the National Football League. He joined the Bears in 2022 after holding several offensive roles with the Minnesota Vikings from 2015-21. In addition to his time in Minnesota, Janocko also coached quarterbacks at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa. (2014), spent two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2012-13) and was a graduate assistant at Rutgers University in 2011.
Most recently in 2022, Janocko was instrumental in the growth of second-year quarterback Justin Fields, who saw success in his first full-season as the Bears' starting quarterback. Fields finished the 2022 season with eight rushing touchdowns and 1,143 individual rushing yards over 15 starts, becoming one of three quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for 1,000+ yards in a single season, joining Lamar Jackson and Michael Vick. He finished just 63 yards shy of matching Jackson's top mark of 1,206 set in 2019. Fields also completed 192-of-318 (60.4%) passes for 2,242 yards and 17 touchdowns on the season, while posting a passer rating of at least 92.0 in five of eight starts from Weeks 8-17.
While serving as the Vikings quarterbacks coach in 2021, Janocko tutored starting quarterback and 2022 Pro Bowl alternate selection Kirk Cousins. Under Janocko, Cousins finished the season with 4,221 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and a passer rating of 103.1 His passer rating ranked fourth best in the NFL, trailing only Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott. Cousins also was one of only two quarterbacks in 2021 to throw for over 30 touchdowns and fewer than 10 interceptions (Rodgers).
As the Vikings wide receivers coach in 2020, Justin Jefferson had one of the best rookie seasons in NFL history. Jefferson set an NFL rookie record with 1,400 receiving yards and a Vikings rookie record with 88 receptions, along with seven touchdowns. Jefferson became the first rookie wide receiver to earn Associated Press All-Pro honors (first or second team) since Randy Moss in 1998 and was tabbed to his first Pro Bowl. Veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen finished with a career-high 14 receiving touchdowns, the fifth-most in team history.
In 2019, while assisting with the offensive line, the Vikings o-line allowed only 28 regular-season sacks, tying them for fifth-fewest in the NFL. The mark also tied for the eighth-fewest sacks allowed in franchise history. The offensive line also paved the way for Dalvin Cook to rush for 1,135 yards, the Vikings first 1,000-yard rusher since Adrian Peterson did so in 2015.
In 2018, the o-line protected Cousins as he set a team record for completions (425), posted the second-best completion mark in team history (70.1%) and threw for the second-most yards (4,298) by a Viking ever.
The 2017 Vikings offensive line was a key to the team going 13-3, winning the NFC North title and advancing to the NFC Championship Game. The line paved the way for several offensive players to have career years, highlighted by quarterback Case Keenum. Cook set a team record for rookies with 288 yards in the opening three games of the season but was lost to injury for the season in the fourth game. The Vikings jumped from last in the NFL in rushing in 2016 to seventh in 2017 and climbed from No. 28 in total offense to No. 11.
From 2014-16, Janocko aided the Vikings offense as an offensive quality control coach. In 2016, he saw newly acquired quarterback Sam Bradford set the NFL record at the time for completion percentage in a season at 71.6%. Janocko also worked with the Vikings tight ends, a group that was led by veteran Kyle Rudolph, who set the Vikings record for receptions in a season by a tight end with 83. In 2015, Janocko helped guide a rushing attack that ranked fifth in the NFL, headlined by Adrian Peterson's league-leading 1,485 rushing yards.
Janocko arrived in Minnesota after coaching the quarterbacks at Division II Mercyhurst for one season in 2014. His first start in coaching came in 2011, when he was a graduate assistant at Rutgers, working with quarterbacks under then-head coach Greg Schiano. After impressing Schiano, Janocko's first NFL coaching opportunity came in 2012 when then-Tampa Bay head coach Schiano offered him a position to serve as an offensive assistant for two seasons (2012-13).
A three-year letter winner at Pitt, Janocko served as a backup QB and holder on special teams while offensive coordinator Luke Getsy worked as a graduate assistant for the Pittsburgh Panthers. Janocko spent his first two seasons as a walk-on before earning a scholarship his final two seasons. A three-time member of the Big East All-Academic Team, he graduated from Pitt in 2010 with a degree in history and minor in political science.
A native of Clearfield, Pa., Janocko was the starting quarterback at Clearfield Area High School, where his father, Tim, served as the head coach. He led the school to a pair of district championships and was a two-time Pennsylvania Football News All-State honoree.
Janocko and his wife, Natalie, have a son, Noah, and a daughter, Isabella.