As an offensive coordinator who played linebacker for nine years in the NFL, Rick Dennison has unique credentials to be a head coach. ”He’s got a very good grasp of the game on both sides of the ball,” Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels said. ”I think you need that as a head coach.” Dennison’s

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As an offensive coordinator who played linebacker for nine years in the NFL, Rick Dennison has unique credentials to be a head coach.

”He’s got a very good grasp of the game on both sides of the ball,” Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels said. ”I think you need that as a head coach.”

Dennison’s role as the Texans’ offensive coordinator still comes with a hitch. Though he is responsible for developing the game plan each week, he does not call plays on Sunday. That’s a stigma that has made it more difficult for many offensive coordinators to move to head-coaching positions.

But that’s about the only thing Dennison does not do as an assistant coach for Gary Kubiak. In fact, Dennison has been described as sharing head-coaching authority in all facets of the offense.

”A good head coach is a motivator of men. He does a great job of that,” said fullback Tyler Clutts, who played for the Bears last season. ”You get guys to buy into your program and your offense and that’s the key. Guys believe. It starts with coach Kubiak and coach Dennison, all the way down. I think anybody would be lucky to have him.”

”He works very hard,” Daniels said. ”It’s hard for Kub to give up the reins of calling the plays and stuff. That’s kind of his thing. He’s always done it. But Rico puts the offense in that he wanted to put in in terms of his style of the West Coast offense and Kub was right there with him on that. We had a very productive season offensively. We had a lot of guys contributing and he’s the guy who got a lot of people involved.”

Dennison, a former math teacher who has a graduate degree in civil engineering, is a low-key personality, but he has made a big impact on the Texans.

”He’s a very methodical, very detailed coach,” Daniels said. ”When you’re an OC running this offense, you’ve got to pay special attention to detail with everything we’ve got going on. He’s handled our group very well the last few years. If he happens to get that we wish him the best, but we’ll definitely miss him.”

One facet of Dennison’s history that figures to interest the Bears is his background as an offensive line coach. Dennison was the Broncos’ offensive line coach for five seasons. He was a protege of Alex Gibbs, who is credited with developing the zone-blocking scheme that made the Broncos’ running game among the best in football from 1995-2003.

”He’s a great coach,” Texans offensive tackle Duane Brown said. ”He’s helped us out a lot offensively. The o-line he has great schemes, week-in and week-out. He’s a great motivator. He addresses us weekly, gets us ready to go on offense. I think he’ll definitely be a good head coach.”