The Chicago Bears must hire yet another head coach after firing Matt Eberflus. While hiring a leader of men should be the No. 1 objective, the secondary goal could be finding someone who can get the most out of promising rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
While interim head coach Thomas Brown, who has already developed a solid rapport with Williams, could get a shot to replace his old boss permanently, he appears to be a longshot at this point in time. Given the Bears' solid defense, young quarterback, and collection of weapons, this opening could attract some of the best and brightest.
One name that keeps popping up in this coaching search is Washington Commanders offensive coordinator and former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury. After previously interviewing with the Bears for an OC job, Kingsbury, who worked with Williams during his days at USC, could be on his way to Chicago.
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Bears may be Kingsbury's "best chance" at becoming a head coach in this cycle. Fowler does mention the Jaguars, who have Trevor Lawrence and a much weaker division, as a team who could potentially be viewed as more attractive for Kingsbury than Chicago.
Kliff Kingsbury linked to Bears head coaching job by NFL insiders
While Kingsbury never won a playoff game in four seasons with the Cardinals, he did take them from the No. 1 overall pick to the postseason. The nightmare season was 2022, where Kyler Murray got hurt and the talent around him flaked away.
If nothing else, hiring Kingsbury would give Williams a high floor of baseline competency. The defensive infrastructure is strong enough to warrant hiring a purely offensive coach this time around, and Kingsbury's success with Daniels and Murray shows he has an ability to work with younger quarterbacks.
With the Lions set up for a reign as the NFC's big dog, and the always-difficult Packers and Vikings not going anywhere anytime soon, the Bears need to pick things up soon by nailing this hire. They won't do that if Williams doesn't take any steps forward in what has admittedly been a strong rookie season.
Kingsbury is not a perfect coach, but if there was a perfect coach out there, he would already have a head coaching job. The Bears could do much worse than a proven offensive mind with past head coaching experience, especially with the singular task of turning Williams into a star.