Insiders Sheds Light On Why Bears Passed On Hiring Kliff Kingsbury
The Chicago Bears had a plan going into the 2024 off-season. They would revamp the offense from top to bottom. Before addressing the quarterback situation, they wanted to find a new offensive coordinator. Luke Getsy hadn’t made enough progress over the past two years. With a new quarterback coming in, the time felt right for a fresh start. GM Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus met with several candidates. One of them was former head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
His candidacy was obvious. He’d built a reputation since his time at Texas Tech as a sharp offensive mind who did great work with quarterbacks. It was Patrick Mahomes in college and Kyler Murray in the NFL. His connection to Caleb Williams, who Kingsbury worked with at USC, seemed to make him the most obvious choice. However, the Bears passed. Instead, they opted to go with former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron instead. Kingsbury landed the same job in Washington.
Adam Hoge of CHGO shed light on why Chicago went in that direction.
Kliff Kingsbury didn’t offer the Bears long-term stability.
What Hoge says is true. The Commanders offensive coordinator has tons of head coaching experience already and he’s only in his mid-40s. Jayden Daniels is off to one of the best starts a rookie quarterback has ever had. If he finishes the same way, it is a reasonable assumption teams will line up for a chance to lure Kingsbury elsewhere for another head coaching job. The common trend in today’s NFL is putting a strong QB developer in that spot. Nobody can dispute Kingsbury is good at that.
Waldron not only offered proven experience as a QB developer, but he hasn’t had the same amount of buzz around him as a head coach candidate compared to others. Maybe that changes if Williams keeps ascending as he has over the past three games. The last time an offensive coordinator got a good year out of his quarterback, he was plucked the next season. That was Adam Gase in 2015. Kliff Kingsbury would’ve been a repeat of that same situation. At least with Waldron, the odds are better he sticks around for a couple of years.