Are the Chicago Bears waiting to hire this Offensive Coordinator instead?

If you follow social media you will see plenty of rumors circulating about Pat Shurmur as an offensive coordinator option for the Chicago Bears. Could the Bears be waiting to bring in Mike Kafka instead?

If the Chicago Bears were able to convince Pat Shurmur to be the team’s next offensive coordinator, I will be thrilled. Shurmur has a great reputation as an offensive coordinator despite failing as the Giants head coach. He has a history of proving that with the Vikings and Eagles. Case Keenum and Nick Foles had the best years of their careers under Shurmur.

It is possible though that despite the rumors the Chicago Bears are not even interested in Shurmur. Maybe Shurmur is waiting to see what other options may be presented to him since Matt Nagy has a reputation of being the team play-caller. I cannot imagine Shurmur wants to be an offensive coordinator by title only. The other option is that the Bears want to interview guys whose teams are still in the playoffs.

One of those names comes from Nagy’s prior team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Mike Kafka has garnered a great deal of interest throughout the NFL coaching rumors. He is currently the Chiefs’ quarterbacks coach but was also the offensive quality control coach in 2017 when Nagy was still with the team.

Nagy and Kafka have ties beyond the Chiefs. Kafka was a backup quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles when Nagy was an assistant coach for the team. They are clearly familiar with one another and I am sure Nagy has an interest. Oh, and not to mention Kafka is from Chicago and played for and coached at Northwestern. This fit just makes too much sense despite the Shurmur rumors.

Kafka may not even be an option either though. Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy might be waiting to request permission to interview him, however, the way the NFL works, the Chiefs can deny the Bears the ability to interview Kafka. In fact, the Chiefs may be planning on promoting Kafka to their own offensive coordinator position as rumors are swirling about Eric Bieniemy being a hot head coaching candidate this offseason.

That said, other teams do not seem to be waiting on hiring their new head coaches and both Bieniemy and Kafka could have fielded interviews last week during their playoff bye week. This includes the Bears not attempting to interview Kafka last week, but maybe Pace and Nagy do not see eye-to-eye on this matter? Maybe Nagy has been in talks with Andy Reid and both are waiting to see what happens with Bieniemy first?

Either way, it does not seem like the Bears are in a rush here to hire a new offensive coordinator. They already signed a new offensive line coach in Juan Castillo but with Nagy being the play-caller they might not feel the need to rush into anything regarding the offensive coordinator position. Who knows, maybe Nagy will just take on the coordinator role himself. No matter what they do, the next offensive coordinator needs more than just college experience.

Besides Shurmur and Kafka, who are some names you want to see the Bears hire as their next offensive coordinator?