Seahawks assistant Leslie Frazier of 1985 Bears looks for another ring in 40th anniversary of championship
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Most of the 1985 Bears don’t have to worry about a conflict of interest when they root for their old team, but it’s more complicated for former cornerback Leslie Frazier because of his coaching career.
He wasn’t able to attend when the Bears honored the ’85 team at their season opener, for example, because he’s the Seahawks’ assistant head coach and was in his office working on their upcoming opponent. Ron Rivera looped him in via FaceTime.
Nonetheless, even while working for another organization, Frazier enjoyed the Bears’ success and would’ve loved to see them get past the Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“No doubt — I was so much pulling for those guys to come to Seattle and play us in the NFC Championship Game,” Frazier told the Sun-Times. “I’ll always be a Bears fan because of my allegiance to the McCaskey family. Ed and Virginia were so good to me and my family during my time there, and I still have a lot of relationships in the organization, so I’m always pulling for the Bears.”
Frazier, 66, played five seasons for the Bears before a knee injury derailed his career and has been in coaching for nearly four decades. His second act included two seasons as an assistant at Illinois, several NFL defensive-coordinator jobs and a three-year run as Vikings head coach.
He has a chance to earn his third Super Bowl ring Sunday, when the Seahawks face the Patriots at Levi’s Stadium. He won one as a Colts assistant coach when they beat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI, a game in which he most certainly wasn’t pulling for his old team.
But with this being the 40th anniversary of the ’85 team’s championship and, incidentally, the Patriots as his opponent, Frazier said the memories have come flooding back this week.
He thinks his players, however, are largely unaware that he was a key part of one of the greatest teams in NFL history. A Seahawks assistant coach showed a clip of one of his 20 career interceptions in a meeting this season, “so they know that I played, but they may not know the type of team that I played on.”
One of them certainly does: safety Julian Love, who grew up in a Bears household and played at Nazareth.
“He’s iconic,” he said. “If you’re part of that team, you’re a superstar.”
Injury updates
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has maintained all week that his injured throwing shoulder wouldn’t be an issue, and he practiced in full Wednesday at Stanford. He said the injury “turned a corner” and had “no doubt about being 100% for the game.’’
Maye led the NFL with a 113.5 passer rating and is a finalist for MVP, which will be announced Thursday.
The only Patriots starters to miss practice time were linebackers Robert Spillane (ankle, out) and Harold Landry III (knee, limited).
Every Seahawk practiced at least in part at San Jose State. Quarterback Sam Darnold (oblique), left tackle Charles Cross (foot) and safety Nick Emmanwori (ankle) were limited. Emmanwori got hurt during practice but was able to walk off the field on his own.
Studesville on board for Bears
The Bears are bringing back a familiar face. They agreed to hire veteran NFL assistant Eric Studesville as running backs coach, a source said.
Studesville, 58, coached running backs and held other titles with the Dolphins the last nine years, spanning three head coaches. He worked alongside Bears coach Ben Johnson as Dolphins assistants in 2017 and ’18.
His first stint as a Bears assistant was from 1997 through 2000 under Dave Wannstedt and Dick Jauron. The last two seasons, he was their wide receivers coach and assistant special-teams coach.