Names to keep an eye on as the next Chicago Bears offensive coordinator

Landing Mike McDaniel as the Chicago Bears next OC would be a longshot

The top candidate on my list is likely to be Mike McDaniel. McDaniel has strong connections to both Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay as they all worked together in Washington prior to Shanahan and McVay moving onto their respective head coaching positions with the Rams and 49ers. Just like Kevin O’Connell, there isn’t a direct link to McDaniel through Matt Eberflus or Ryan Poles.

McDaniel is easily the best media personality out of this group too. If you haven’t heard him, just Google “Mike McDaniel” and “press conference” and listen to a few of them. He is definitely going to be more entertaining for the media and fans than Bill Lazor. The problem is that pulling him away from the 49ers for another offensive coordinator job might not be easy. This would be a similar situation to the Kevin O’Connell situation as McDaniel doesn’t call plays for the 49ers.

McDaniel has plenty of coaching experience at the age of 38. He started as an intern in 2005 under Mike Shanahan with the Broncos. He was an offensive assistant for three years in Houston before moving onto the UFL for two seasons. He came back to work under Mike Shanahan again in 2011 where he paired up with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. McDaniel was an offensive assistant for two years before being promoted to wide receivers coach.

McDaniel then moved onto the Cleveland Browns when Mike Shanahan was fired, but then followed Kyle Shanahan to the Atlanta Falcons just one season later. He has been following Kyle ever since and has been an offensive assistant, run game coordinator (something Shanahan preaches and the 49ers do extremely well) and finally an offensive coordinator as of this season.

If McDaniel wants to move onto a new team as a potential head coach, his path may look clearer and happen more quickly here in Chicago than if he were to remain with the 49ers. There are rumors that Matt Eberflus is looking to pull someone from the Shanahan and/or McVay coaching tree and maybe they target Mike McDaniel throughout this process. The question will be, is McDaniel going to consider moving onto another team? Who knows at this point.