On January 10th, 2024, the Chicago Bears made significant changes to their coaching staff. Although they chose to keep Matt Eberflus as their head coach, they fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. The Bears also fired quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, running backs coach Omar Young, wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert, and assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts. The Bears now go into one of the most crucial offseasons in franchise history in search of an almost entirely new offensive staff, with a major quarterback decision on the horizon.
The pool of OC candidates includes familiar names, experienced play-callers, and sneaky-good pairings.
The Top Four Candidates
Shane Waldron
Current Team: Seattle Seahawks
Waldron was one of my favorites to be the Bears’ next head coach if Eberflus got the axe. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Bears have already requested to interview Shane Waldron. With Pete Carroll ending his tenure as the Seahawks head coach, his former assistants can look for new jobs.
Waldron started his coaching career with the New England Patriots in 2002. From 2005 to 2006, he worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Notre Dame. In 2008, he returned to the Patriots as an offensive quality control coach and a tight ends coach in 2009. Waldron held various positions in high school football, the United Football League, and the University of Massachusetts (UMass) from 2010 to 2015. He was hired by the Washington Commanders in 2016 as an offensive quality control coach. In 2017, the Los Angeles Rams hired him as a tight ends coach. That season, tight ends Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee combined for 77 catches, 539 receiving yards, and three touchdowns. The underrated duo averaged 13.1 yards per reception. In 2018, Waldron became the pass game coordinator for the Rams’ offense. He held that title until the Seahawks hired him in 2021.
Waldron has been the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator and primary play-caller for the past three years. Here is how Waldron’s offenses ranked each year he was in Seattle:
2021: 20th in total yards, 23rd in passing yards, 11th in rushing yards, and 16th in points per game
2022: 13th in total yards, 12th in passing yards, 18th in rushing yards, and 9th in points per game
2023: 21st in total yards, 14th in passing yards, 28th in rushing yards, and 17th in points per game
Waldron is ranked number one on my list because he is the only person on this list who has been the main play-caller for an NFL franchise, and he has spent time under three head coaches who have all won at least one Super Bowl. He spent five years under Bill Belichick, five years under Sean McVay, and three years under Pete Carroll.
Brian Griese
Current Team: San Francisco 49ers
Most NFL fans know Brian Griese from his two-year stint on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, but most don’t know that Griese was a quarterback. He was a three-year starter at the University of Michigan. He led the Wolverines to an undefeated season during his senior year and a victory in the 1998 Rose Bowl.
After a successful college career, Griese was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. From 2006 to 20007, Griese played for the Chicago Bears and started six games. Griese played in a total of 13 games for the Bears, passing for 2,023 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. Griese’s career ended after the 2008-2009 season. He played for four teams across 11 seasons, starting 83 out of 93 games. Griese finished his career with 19,940 passing yards, 119 passing touchdowns, 99 interceptions, 582 rushing yards, and five rushing touchdowns. Griese was John Elway’s backup when the Broncos won Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999, and he made the Pro Bowl in 2000. During his playing career, Griese became one of four career quarterbacks with an undefeated record against Tom Brady.
Griese has been a coach in the NFL for only two years, both with the 49ers. But he does have a lot going for him. In his two seasons as the 49ers’ quarterbacks coach, Griese has coached Jimmy Garoppolo, Trey Lance, Sam Darnold, and Brock Purdy. Griese, no doubt, had an impact on Purdy’s swift development. He helped turn Purdy from “Mr. Irrelevant” to a 4,000-yard passer in less than two years. He has played under Mike Shanahan and coached under Kyle Shanahan.
Klint Kubiak
Current Team: San Francisco 49ers
If that last name sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Klint Kubiak is the oldest son of former Texans and Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak. Gary was the offensive coordinator for two-time Super Bowl Champion Mike Shanahan. Griese has spent the past year on Kyle Shanahan’s coaching staff in San Francisco.
Klint started his career coaching wide receivers in various capacities at Texas A&M University from 2010 to 2012. Klint’s first job in the NFL was with the Minnesota Vikings. He served as a quality control assistant and their assistant wide receivers coach from 2013 to 2014. In 2015, he returned to the collegiate level and coached wide receivers at the University of Kansas.
From 2016 to 2018, he served as the quarterbacks coach for the Denver Broncos. In 2016, Kubiak tutored Paxton Lynch and former Bears quarterback Trevor Seimian. In 2018, Case Keenum threw for 3,890 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions under Kubiak’s tutelage.
After his father was hired by the Vikings in 2019, Kubiak followed him to serve as their quarterbacks coach. In 2021, after his father retired from coaching, the Vikings promoted him to offensive coordinator. Here are Kirk Cousins’s stats in all three years under Klint’s watch:
2019: 3,603 passing yards, 26 touchdowns, six interceptions, a completion percentage of 69.1, and a passer rating of 107.4
2020: 4,265 passing yards, 35 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, a completion percentage of 67.6, and a passer rating of 105.0
2021: 4,421 passing yards, 33 touchdowns, seven interceptions, a completion percentage of 66.3, and a passer rating of 103.1
Klint returned to Denver in 2022 and served as the Broncos quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for their offense. Russell Wilson passed for 3,524 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions in his lone season with Kubiak. Most of what went wrong in Denver during the 2022-23 NFL season was on then-head coach Nathaniel Hackett and Denver’s offensive line, which allowed 55 sacks (tied with the Bears for most in the NFL).
Klint spent this past season as the passing game coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. Klint likely already has a member of his offensive staff in mind, his younger brother Klay, who is currently the 49ers’ assistant quarterbacks coach. Who wouldn’t offer their brother a promotion if given the chance?
Although he has never called plays, Kubiak has many ties to the prestigious “Shanahan Coaching Tree.” According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Bears requested to interview Klint for their offensive coordinator vacancy.
Kliff Kingsbury
Current Team: USC Trojans
Kliff Kingsbury is the only man on this list to have been a head coach in the NFL, but he is fourth because hiring Kingsbury only makes sense for the Bears if they draft Caleb Williams. Kingsbury has served as a senior offensive analyst at the University of Southern California for the past year. The quarterback of the USC Trojans, Caleb Williams, is unanimously the best quarterback in this year’s draft, and the Bears own the number one overall pick. Is this chance or destiny?
Besides Williams, Kingsbury has coached three other well-known quarterbacks. In 2012, he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas A&M University. That season, Johnny Manziel became the first freshman ever to win the Heisman Trophy. In 2013, Kingsbury was hired as the head coach of Texas Tech, where he played quarterback from 1999 to 2002. He was there for six years and coached Patrick Mahomes for three of those years. From 2013 to 2018, Kingsbury was 36-42 as the head coach of the Red Raiders. He only had two winning seasons in Lubbock, and his teams played in bowl games only three times.
In 2019, Kingsbury was hired to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, where he coached former number-one overall pick, Kyler Murray. Here are Murray’s stats under Kingsbury’s tutelage:
2019: 16 games, 3,772 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions, a completion percentage of 64.4, a passer rating of 87.4, 93 carries, 544 rushing yards, and 4 rushing touchdowns
2020: 16 games, 3,971 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions, a competition percentage of 67.2, a passer rating of 94.3, 133 carries, 819 rushing yards, and 11 rushing touchdowns
2021: 14 games, 3,787 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 13 interceptions, a competition percentage of 69.2, a passer rating of 100.6, 88 carries, 423 rushing yards, and five rushing touchdowns
2022: 11 games, 2,368 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, a competition percentage of 65.7, a passer rating of 87.2, 67 carries, 418 rushing yards, and three rushing touchdowns
Kingsbury’s time in Arizona wasn’t as successful as it should’ve been, but he helped Murray accomplish a lot. Murray won the NFL AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2019, and made the Pro Bowl in back-to-back years (2020 and 2021). Any Bears fan would love to have Fields, Williams, Maye, etc., have the kind of success Murray had under Kingsbury.
In four years as the head coach of the Cardinals, Kingsbury had a regular season record of 28-37-1, and lost his only playoff game to the Los Angeles Rams. This is how Kingsbury’s offenses ranked each year he was in Arizona:
2019: 21st in total yards, 24th in passing yards, 10th in rushing yards, and 17th in points per game
2020: 6th in total yards, 17th in passing yards, 7th in rushing yards, and 13th in points per game
2021: 8th in total yards, 10th in passing yards, 10th in rushing yards, and 11th in points per game
2022: 22nd in total yards, 18th in passing yards, 22nd in rushing yards, and 21st in points per game
Kingsbury is on this list because he is experienced in developing young quarterbacks. His connections to Caleb Williams make him intriguing, and even if Fields stays, Kingsbury knows how to operate with mobile quarterbacks.
Other Confirmed Interviewees
Liam Coen
Current Team: Kentucky Wildcats
According to Jonathan Jones of CBS, the Bears have requested to interview Liam Coen. Coen is another coach who comes from the “Mike Shanahan Coaching Tree.”
Coen played quarterback at the University of Massachusetts from 2005 to 2008. He threw for 11,031 yards, 90 touchdowns, and 46 interceptions in 50 games as a member of the Minutemen. In 2006, he led his team to the FCS National Championship, where UMass lost to Appalachian State.
The bulk of Coen’s coaching career occurred in the lower levels of Division 1. He made stops at Brown University (2010 and 2012-13), the University of Rhode Island (2011), his alma mater Umass (2014-2015), and the University of Maine (2016-2017).
Coen was eventually hired by Sean McVay to be the assistant wide receivers coach of the Rams. He operated in the role during the 2018 and 2019 NFL seasons. During that time, he coached Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, and Cooper Kupp. During the 2018 season, Cooks and Woods both amassed over 1,000 receiving yards. Woods and Kupp accomplished the same feat in 2019. Coen’s job changed to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2020. Coen returned to the Rams as their offensive coordinator in 2022.
In 2021, became the offensive coordinator for the University of Kentucky. In 2021, Coen coached NFL talents Wan’Dale Robinson and Will Levis. In Levis’ lone season with Coen, he completed 66 percent of his passes for 2,826 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. Coen returned as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator in 2023. Coen has four years of experience as an offensive play-caller at the collegiate level (two at Maine and two at Kentucky).
Coen isn’t one of my preferred choices to be the Bears’ next offensive coordinator, but I’d be interested to see if he’d land on the Bears’ new offensive staff, especially if Shane Waldron is hired. Coen and Waldron were both on the Rams’ coaching staff in 2018 and 2019.
Honorable Mentions
Two names that I didn’t put on this list are Eric Bienemy of the Washington Commanders, and Anthony Lynn of the San Francisco 49ers. They were not placed in my top four for various reasons.
Bieniemy’s current team has the right to deny him an interview with the Chicago Bears, because he wouldn’t be receiving a promotion. Bieniemy is already an offensive coordinator, and I don’t see his current teams letting them leave without a fight. The only way Bieniemy becomes available is if the new head coach of the Commanders, who hasn’t been named yet, allows Bieniemy to walk. A Ryan Poles reunion with Bienimey could prove once and for all that Bienimey is a great offensive mind and worthy of a head coaching job.
Lynn, however, is a complicated case. He has already assisted in developing a Pro Bowl quarterback. He was the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers during Justin Herbert’s rookie year in 2020. That season, Herbert passed for 4,336 yards and 31 touchdowns in just 15 games. He also posted a completion percentage of 66.6 and a passer rating of 98.3. Herbert made the Pro Bowl the year after Lynn was fired. Although Lynn had a winning record of 33-31 as a head coach, he never won a division title and made the playoffs only once in four years.
My Proposed Staff
Bears fans are begging for Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus to get this hire right. This hire could go a long way to helping the Bears’ century-long drought of finding a franchise quarterback. Whoever they hire will either have to help improve Justin Fields’ production as a passer or develop a young rookie quarterback. My dream offensive staff for the Bears would include Shane Waldron as their offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury as their quarterbacks coach, and Liam Coen as their wide receivers coach. This scenario seems far-fetched, but anything is possible.
