With the news that the Chicago Bears are keeping Matt Eberflus and firing Luke Getsy, the Bears are once again staring down the barrel of another “prove it” type of season with a rookie quarterback looming in the future (stop me if you’ve heard this story before). Let’s review some of the best options to take over the offensive play-calling duties for the Bears.
Also, keep in mind none of these options are supposed to be attractive because Matt Eberflus should’ve been fired but instead was rewarded with the gift to get a first-overall pick-worthy quarterback, whoever they decide on picking.
Chicago Bears OC Candidate: Kliff Kingsbury, Offensive Analyst, USC
Kliff Kingsbury, the former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, is probably the biggest shark in the sea regarding offensive coordinators for the Bears. Especially when you consider he already has experience working with Caleb Williams, who is projected to be the number one pick.
Kingsbury comes from the air raid coaching tree where he played under the late and great, Mike Leach at Texas Tech, who is one of the founders of the air raid offense.
Kingsbury’s biggest claim to fame is that good quarterback play has followed him in his career just about everywhere he went. Kliff got his first big gig at Texas A&M as offensive coordinator and QB coach, where he coached a player you may have heard of named Johnny “Johnny Football” Manziel to become the first ever true freshman to win the Heisman award which goes to the best college football player each year.
Just one year removed from coaching Johnny Football, Kingsbury got the Texas Tech head coaching job where he coached another player you may have heard of named Patrick Mahomes. Under Kingsbury, from 2014-2016, Mahomes threw for just under 12 thousand yards in three years and only two as the starter. Kingsbury would eventually find himself as the coach of the Arizona Cardinals, where he coached Kyler Murray, Murray threw for 84 touchdowns and 41 interceptions as well as 13 thousand yards in four seasons under Kingsbury.
The fit with Caleb Williams and Kingsbury’s play calling will be a nice transition because Williams already operates Lincoln Riley’s modified version of the air raid offense. Similar to Kyler Murray, who played his college days under Riley at Oklahoma before he had a smooth transition to the NFL under Kingsbury in Arizona.
It may be a tough sell to get Kingsbury to sign on to a coaching staff where Eberflus is already one foot out the door, but if the Bears could pull it off it would be a nice way to salvage an already scuffed coaching cycle because the organization to too scared to fire Eberflus.