The Bears are expected to interview Kliff Kingsbury, the former Arizona Cardinals head coach and now USC quarterbacks coach, for their opening at offensive coordinator, sources confirmed to NBC Sports Chicago.
One former Bears head coach is staunchly against Kingsbury’s pass-heavy scheme, however. He feels there should be a strong run game to support the passing game — not the other way around.
“I like Kliff, he’s a good guy,” Dave Wannstedt told Parkins & Spiegel on 670 The Score. “But that would be the worst mistake Eberlfus could make. Now, if they’re gonna hire him as quarterbacks coach that might be good if they draft Caleb Williams. That all makes sense.”
Wannstedt has a relationship with Kingsbury. The former Bears head coach was a college football analyst while Kingsbury was coaching at Texas Tech, according to Wannstedt. He likes Kingsbury, but he’s not entirely on board with him being the offensive coordinator.
“We had some great conversations. I like Kliff. He’s got a great offensive mind. He checks all the boxes,” Wannstedt said.
Kingsbury spent one season with the Trojans and Caleb Williams. Before that, he was the head coach for the Arizona Cardinal for four seasons. During that time he helped Kyler Murray win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, and make it to three Pro Bowls. Kingsbury is also known for developing Patrick Mahomes when Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech, and helping Johnny Manziel win the Heisman award in 2012 as the Texas A&M OC and QBs coach.
The Bears have largely looked at coaches from the Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay coaching trees, but Kingsbury is a departure from that trend. Kingsbury learned from Mike Leach and is closely associated with Leach’s “air raid” offense. That offense is known as a pass-first scheme that spreads the field out wide and works up-tempo. Shanahan’s and McVay’s schemes are more known for their strong run games.
The team interviewed Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Zac Robinson on Thursday, a source confirmed to NBC Sports Chicago. They reportedly requested to interview Eagles senior offensive assistant Marcus Brady on Thursday, too.
Kingsbury is now the ninth person we know of that the Bears have either interviewed or requested to interview for their OC position. For more coverage on the other candidates, click here.
