Ranking the Chicago Bears head coaching candidates being interviewed

Chicago Bears Coaching Candidate: Byron Leftwich, OC – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Most people look at Byron Leftwich and say he isn’t cut out to be a head coach because he is living under the shadow of Bruce Arians and Tom Brady. Others will say, “have you seen the talent in Tampa Bay? Of course he’s going to be successful.” The thing is, we have more to look at when it comes to Byron Leftwich than meets the eye.

No one can overlook just how bad Byron Leftwich’s offense performed when he was the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. Prior to landing that gig, Leftwich worked with the Cardinals as an intern before earning the quarterbacks coach job in 2017. His promotion to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach came in 2018 and there are two glaring things to look at that likely led to his failure.

First, Leftwich was very inexperienced. He took over as offensive coordinator when Mike McCoy was fired in October. He was thrown into the fire without the ability to truly create his own offense. I’m sure he was able to put his stamp on a few things, but at that point in the season, a team isn’t going to be able to learn a whole new playbook. Second, the quarterback situation was awful.

Josh Rosen has proven to be one of the bigger busts in NFL history. It was a smart move for the Cardinals to move on from him quickly. He struggled in Miami and has not been a starter in the league since. It’s one thing to negate some credit of a coach when he has the likes of Aaron Rodgers. It’s another to not give him some room for failure when he has the likes of Josh Rosen. The Cardinals ranked dead last in 2018 in yards, points and offensive DVOA. Yikes.

Now onto the good. Byron Leftwich helped a Jameis Winston-led team to a top-five offensive finish. The team was third in points and third in yards. They ranked much lower in offensive DVOA because Winston threw nearly as many interceptions (30) as he did touchdowns (33). With Tom Brady steering the ship, the team has finished in the top three in offensive DVOA the last two years.

What I love about Leftwich is his scheme. He uses 11 and 12 personnel consistently. He will throw on early downs nearly as often as he does run, keeping defenses guessing. This is one issue we all have with Matt Nagy and his predictable offensive play calling. Another issue I’ve had is Matt Nagy’s ability to scheme receivers open. Here’s one example of how Byron Leftwich creates different levels to open up passing lanes for Brady. If this was Nagy, his receivers would be within five yards of one another.

I could go on and on about why Leftwich should be the guy. He will help bring in free agents since he was a former player and looks to get guys incentives they have in their contracts when possible. He is a motivator too — going all the way back to his college years at Marshall. Leftwich didn’t pan out as a top quarterback in the league, but I think he is going to be one of the better offensive head coaches we will see.