The Search for the Chicago Bears head coach heats up with every passing week.
There has been a lot of noise surrounding how the Bears plan to handle the process. The ultimate goal is finding a head coach who can stay around for a while and stop the consistent turnover at one of the most important positions in football.
To discover the coach of the future, it's essential to learn from past mistakes and understand what contributes to other teams' success. A valuable resource for this knowledge is to examine the NFC and AFC Championship games from last year, as they showcase what winning football is at its peak.
The four teams that reached the Championship games shared several key characteristics. Most notably, the Bears should focus on the fact that all of these teams have highly respected play callers on the offensive side, along with a franchise quarterback. The Bears seem to have a guy who can develop into a franchise quarterback so no need to find him a head coach.
How the Chicago Bears can get their next head coach hire right
The best teams in the NFL usually have strong coaches, which is not surprising. However, what sets teams with recent success apart is their consistent offensive production, which comes from having respected play-callers.
What does this mean for the Bears? First and foremost, it’s time to hire a coach who is either an elite play-caller, like Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid, or someone you trust to recruit an elite play-caller, as Dan Campbell did with Ben Johnson or John Harbaugh did with Todd Monken. Bringing in a coach with a background similar to these successful leaders would give the Bears a significant advantage compared to their recent history.
I would prefer to see them pursue an offensive-minded head coach to achieve sustained success through a consistent play-caller over time. However, if they decide to hire someone like Dan Campbell, they must ensure the coordinator positions are filled correctly and you will know that you have succeeded at that when you have your play callers consistently getting poached.