On Wednesday, January 10th, Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles met with the media and announced Luke Getsy had been fired. Immediately after the press conference ended, we started hearing the names of several candidates the Bears planned to interview for their new Offensive Coordinator.
Here is a list of coaches the Bears have expressed interest in.
Shane Waldron, OC for the Seattle Seahawks.
Liam Coen, OC at the University of Kentucky.
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Greg Olson, QB Coach for the Seattle Seahawks.
Klint Kubiak, Passing Game Coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers
Every coach on the list is well-versed in the Shanahan offense the Bears want in Chicago.
Chicago fans have never witnessed a prolific offense. No quarterback in the history of the franchise has ever thrown for 4,000 yards. The most touchdowns a quarterback has ever thrown is 29.
Offenses have to adapt to the new breed of quarterbacks entering the league each year. Recently, there has been some success with coaches coming from the college ranks. No example is better than Todd Monken after Greg Roman resigned after the 2022 season.
One coach comes to mind regardless of whether the Bears decide to ride with Justin Fields or draft one of the top-rated QBs in this year’s draft.
Meet Kevin Wilson
Kevin Wilson is an offensive mastermind. His offensive systems have been prolific everywhere he has coached.
Northwestern
Wilson’s power-spread offense led the Wildcats to a Big Ten Conference co-championship in 2000 and led the Big10 Conference in rushing for the first time in 54 years.
Oklahoma
In 2002 he left the Wildcats and became the runningbacks coach at Oklahoma. In 2006, he was promoted to Offensive Coordinator. Wilson’s 2008 up-tempo and no-huddle Oklahoma offense resulted in the Sooners scoring at least 60 points in every one of their last 5 conference games and a 65-21 victory over undefeated Texas Tech.
During Wilson’s tenure at Oklahoma, the Sooners won six Big 12 Championships and played in 3 National Championships.
Indiana
In Wilson’s last 5 seasons as head coach for the Indiana Hoosiers, his offense led the Big Ten Conference in passing yards per game (226.7 yards), was second in total yards per game (459.3 yards), third in points per game (31.4 points), and fourth in rushing yards per game (192.7 yards).
Ohio State
Wilson was the OC for both Justin Fields and C. J. Stroud. Since Wilson joined the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2017, they have averaged 523.8 yards per game (third in the nation), had more than 500 yards of total offense 27 times and over 600 yards nine times, scored 234 touchdowns (second in the nation), completed 138 touchdown passes (best in the nation), set six Big Ten Conference Offensive Records in the 2018 season (535.6 yards per game, 5,100 passing yards, 51 touchdown passes, 1131 total plays). Wilson’s offense produced back-to-back Heisman Trophy finalists (Dwayne Haskins and Justin Fields), the first 2,000-yard rusher in school history (J. K. Dobbins), and the fifth 1,000-yard receiver in school history (Parris Campbell).
Kevin Wilson has had the prolific offenses throughout his career that Bears fans would welcome with open arms.
@jim Jones If that is true (and I’m inclined to take you at your word because you always come across as a mature adult) there’s absolutely NO WAY he ever gets an NFL job. I’m even more content we have the management in place that we do because I’m sure they (especially Kevin Warren) are aware of it. In previous years this blind organization could easily make that mistake.
If Jim Jones is correct, this is why the NFL hasn’t approached him. No matter how good he is, the publicity stain would end with us looking for a new OC faster than you can say “ah”. Not only the drinking, but the womanizing thing would not be good for a league trying to attract female fans.
Kevin Wilson runs a play like every five seconds. Now I will say he has a drinking problem. Like bad. In Bloomington he pretty much got run out of town due to that. If you went to a bar in Bloomington you were liable to find a stumbling Kevin Wilson regularly trying to pick up college women. That was a problem in Oklahoma and IU. Did he address it at OSU and still have a problem? I don’t know and won’t pretend to. But I have seen with my own eyes a stumbling Kevin Wilson more than a few times… Read more »
How many years ago did Ted Phillips say something to the effect that aside from wins, everything else is great under Nagy and Pace? The lockeroom had no trouble makers, everything was so great between Nagy and the players etc? Sound familiar? I believe that was after an 8-8 season. Sound familiar? Seriously, this was like yesterday in football time, yet here we are again, everything is great in the lockeroom, they all like Flus so let’s ride with proven mediocrity because we don’t want to upset the 7-10 lockeroom.
@David The answer to your question is: “yes.” Every single player you have under contract, you want to maximize their potential. Always. Let Poles figure out the cost benefit of retaining, trading or releasing a contract but they ABSOLUTELY need to get their coaching team right. If they can make Justin Fields into a top five QB, they can make the claim that they can do it again, and again, and again. The idea of a superstar “elite” passing quarterback is a fiction advanced by Erik Lambert and echoed by fans. The fact is, if Fields were a top 5… Read more »