William V. Lazor (born June 14, 1972) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). Lazor has previously served as the quarterbacks coach for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. He is also the former offensive coordinator of the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

, and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

from 1991 to 1993.

Playing career

Lazor played football at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

before graduating in 1994. He was a three-year starting quarterback and graduated with 26 passing and total offensive program records.

Coaching career

Atlanta Falcons

Lazor entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2003 under head coach

Dan Reeves Daniel Edward Reeves (January 19, 1944 – January 1, 2022) was an American football running back and coach in the National Football League (NFL). During his 38 years in the NFL, Reeves participated in nine Super Bowls, the third most for an ...

as the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

offensive quality control coach.

Washington Redskins

Lazor spent four seasons with the

, two of which were spent as the quarterbacks coach for head coach

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and a ...

. During the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Lazor served as an offensive assistant.

Seattle Seahawks

Lazor coached quarterbacks for two seasons with the

under head coaches

Mike Holmgren Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948) is a former American football coach and executive. He began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, where they won Super Bowls XXII ...

and Jim Mora.

University of Virginia

On January 28, 2010, Lazor was officially announced as the new

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

of the University of Virginia Cavaliers.

Philadelphia Eagles

On January 29, 2013, Lazor accepted a position with the Philadelphia Eagles as the quarterbacks coach, coaching alongside

Chip Kelly Charles Edward Kelly (born November 25, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the UCLA Bruins. He came to prominence as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks from 2009 to 2012, whom he led to four consecutive BCS bowl game a ...

Miami Dolphins

On January 15, 2014, Lazor was named offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins. He was fired on November 30, 2015.

Cincinnati Bengals

On January 18, 2016, Lazor was named quarterback coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, replacing recently promoted

Ken Zampese Kenneth Zampese (born July 19, 1967) is an American football coach who is the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). Zampese began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of San Dieg ...

. On September 15, 2017, Lazor was named the Bengals offensive coordinator, taking the place of the recently fired Zampese. Lazor was promoted to full time offensive coordinator for the Bengals on January 3, 2018. On January 11, 2019, Lazor was fired by the Bengals.

Chicago Bears

On January 16, 2020, Lazor was hired by the

as their offensive coordinator, replacing Mark Helfrich. On November 13, 2020, head coach

Matt Nagy Matthew Nagy ( or ; born April 24, 1978) is an American football coach, and former arena football quarterback, who is the senior assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head ...

relinquished play-calling duties to Lazor. The Bears offense noticeably improved, increasing from scoring an average of 19 points per game in the first 9 weeks of the season, compared to the 27 points per game in the latter 5 weeks where Lazor was in charge. On April 2, 2021, head coach

announced during a press conference that he would resume calling plays in the 2021 season. During the post game press conference after the week 4 win at home against the Detroit Lions, head coach

announced that he allowed Bill Lazor to act as the play caller following a highly criticized 26–6 loss on the road against the Cleveland Browns in week 3, In the same press conference, Nagy did not explicitly say that Lazor would continue calling plays alone going forward, rather Nagy continued to be vague regarding the future of the play calling. He was let go by the Bears after the 2021 season.

Personal life

Lazor earned his bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies from

in 1994. He is married to wife Nicole, with whom he has three kids, Nolan, Marin, and Charlotte.

References

External links

Virginia Cavaliers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazor, Bill 1972 births Living people American football quarterbacks Atlanta Falcons coaches Buffalo Bulls football coaches Cincinnati Bengals players Cornell Big Red football players Cornell Big Red football coaches Sportspeople from Scranton, Pennsylvania Seattle Seahawks coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Washington Redskins coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Players of American football from Pennsylvania Philadelphia Eagles coaches Cincinnati Bengals coaches Chicago Bears coaches National Football League offensive coordinators