The Bears passed over some of the NFL's best play-callers a year ago — will they do it again for head coach?
Bears fans didn’t have to look beyond network television to see what might have been Sunday night — Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury guiding his own rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels, and clinching a playoff spot with a 30-24 win.
The Bears interviewed Kingsbury and decided not to hire him as their own offensive coordinator in January. A year later, they’ll have the chance to do the same for a much bigger job — head coach.
The Bears will have to answer what figures to be the first question Kingsbury or any other of their previous coordinator candidates asks: why were they not good enough to get the Shane Waldron's job a year ago but now are now worthy of being the Bears' head coach? The Bears’ only answer will be, simply, that they screwed up.
General manager Ryan Poles and then-head coach Matt Eberflus chose Waldron from a list of eight candidates in January. Five went on to become offensive coordinators with other teams — and four have been overwhelming successes.
Kingsbury, who helped mentor Bears quarterback Caleb Williams at USC last season, has developed Daniels into the presumptive Offensive Rookie of the Year. His Commanders are fifth in scoring and playoff-bound.Greg Roman’s Chargers, who are 12th in the NFL in scoring, are heading to the postseason under Jim Harbaugh.
The NFC South is still up for grabs, buoyed by coordinators the Bears interviewed in January. Liam Cohen has the Buccaneers ranked fourth in scoring, while Zac Robinson has the Falcons 16th. After benching quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Falcons have watched rookie Michael Penix Jr. rise the past two weeks. The Bucs will beat the Falcons out for the division title this week if they beat the Panthers.
Of the five candidates who went on to be coordinators elsewhere, only the Saints’ Klint Kubiak coaches for a losing team. His Saints average the 10th-fewest points in the NFL and, like the Bears, are looking for a new head coach. Even Kubiak, though, fared better than Waldron, who was fired midseason, and fill-in coordinator-turned-interim coach Thomas Brown. The Bears are last in the NFL in yards and fourth from the bottom in points.
Brown figures to get an opportunity to interview for the Bears head coaching job next week but is a longshot candidate after going 0-4 as the boss entering Sunday's finale against the rival Packers. Thursday, he committed the original sin of Eberflus, acting unsteady in a late-game situation.
Those gaffes could make the Bears value experience. Former Titans coach Mike Vrabel spent this season as a coaching and personnel consultant for the Browns but came out of contract Monday and is allowed to conduct interviews starting this week. The Bears figure to be interested. Pete Carroll is intrigued by the Bears job, too; he went to the playoffs in 10 different seasons with the. Seahawks, as many trips as the Bears have taken since 1988.
Brown has been reticent to talk about landing the full-time job, but was reflective Monday.
“Understanding when I accepted the role -- you don't have an interim tag if everything is phenomenal,” Brown said. “There's difficulties. There's a reason for a change, at least in the eyes of ownership. I knew what I was walking into ... and [I] don't flinch. Still not going to flinch, not going to back down my opportunity to continue got grow and battle regardless of the result. The future takes care of itself by what you do every single day.”
Brown said he appreciates “the opportunity to sharpen myself through difficult moments,” it sounded like something he’d say in a job interview. Maybe he will soon.
“I know we live in an instant gratification generation and also world, from a sports standpoint you expect and we want stuff to be fixed right now,” he said. “I get that. But that’s not how stuff actually get fixed or problems get solved.”