Why Byron Leftwich should be the next Bears Head Coach

Byron Leftwich should be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears

Here is why Byron Leftwich should be the Bears’ next head coach. He hits all the right notes to be their best choice. He was on a Super Bowl-winning team both as a player for the Steelers and as the offensive coordinator for the Bucs. He also has been described as a leader among leaders. Bruce Arians recognized that Leftwich had strong leadership skills when he was the backup for Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh.

It has been reported that when Arians and Leftwich were on the Steelers, Arians would often encourage Leftwich to think about being a coach after his playing career. Even now Bruce Arians strongly promotes Leftwich as a top head coach candidate.  More compelling evidence for Leftwich is it It takes some real guts and smarts to, successfully, run an aggressive attacking offense in the NFL. On top of that, this offense suits Justin Fields’ strong-arm quite well.

I find it fascinating that the vast array of fans and Bears media who are 100% sold on Justin Fields are also so happy that the Bears are reported to not giving head coach candidates from offense a little higher consideration than the ones not from the offense. The main Bears theme of 2021 was whatever is best for Fields is best for the Bears. Not giving coaches from offense an edge in their search, does not quite jive with this Bears theme of 2021.

In regards to Bill Polian, he appears to be a good choice to lead the search for head coach and GM. However, his best hires as head coaches were not from offense. This could be important in that both his Colts and Bills teams essentially underperformed given the high talent level both teams had. It seems reasonable to me to question if the reason for this is that both their head coaches were not from offense.

For example, Marv Levy was a great head coach but maybe a former hotshot offensive coordinator as head coach turns one of those four failed Super Bowl appearances of the Bills into a Super Bowl winner. Then there is Tony Dungy. It took Jon Gruden to replace him in Tampa Bay and make their offense better in order to turn Dungy’s formidable Bucs defense into a Super Bowl winner.

To summarize, Byron Leftwich on top of playing on and coaching for Super Bowl teams has shown more than ample courage, intelligence and leadership to be a successful head coach. That he is as a former QB adds some sauce to it all. Reason being, he is trained to think and think quickly in subtle and big picture ways. For all these reasons Byron Leftwich is the best candidate outside of Sean Payton to be the next Bears head coach.