There was a period of time that Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury was at the center of the Chicago Bears offseason.
Given that Caleb Williams was the focus of the offseason for the Bears, one of the early interviews that the team had in looking for Luke Getsy's replacement was with Kingsbury. The messaging around Kingsbury's interview with the Bears was mixed.
Some were of the belief that the Bears were only meeting with Kingsbury as a way to continue their vetting of Williams. There was also the idea that given Matt Eberflus would be on the hot seat if the Bears' 2024 season got off to a slow start, Eberflus would not have wanted to hire an offensive coordinator in Kingsbury who would have been an internal candidate to replace him as the team's head coach.
Kingsbury is now the offensive coordinator of the Commanders, who are set to face the Bears on Sunday. When asked about his interview with the Bears on Thursday, Kingsbury's response left much for interpretation.
Kliff Kingsbury was asked today about his winter interview with the Bears for their open OC vacancy.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) October 24, 2024
“Ummm … I’ll just … Not going to get into that. Yeah. Sorry.”
pic.twitter.com/yqjpFk9XV8
Kliff Kingsbury dodges question about interview with Chicago Bears.
The simplest answer is that Kingsbury is now the offensive coordinator of the Commanders, and he does not want to reflect on an opportunity he did or didn't have. To Kingsbury's credit, he has raised his profile as an offensive coach in the NFL. After Kingsbury's time as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, the thinking was that the NFL had solved his offense. Of course, that could still hold true and Sunday's effort against the Bears' defense will likely play a factor in that.
The possibility also remains that Kingsbury is bummed he couldn't continue his coaching of Williams at the NFL level.
Kliff Kingsbury on Caleb Williams: "Tremendous person, competitor, freaky talent. Watching the stuff he would do in practice and in the games, his ability, his feel, really, really special. He's going to be one of the top guys in the league for a lot of years, so that was cool to…
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) October 24, 2024
For as much as Shane Waldron took criticism during the opening weeks of the season, it seems that he may have been the better hire for the Bears and Williams. Not discredit Kingsbury and the work he has done with Jayden Daniels but Waldron and the Bears haven't handcuffed their handling of Williams. There's no question it was a slow start for Williams but recent weeks have proven that the rookie quarterback is on the rise.