Bears Head Coach Search: Is Kliff Kingsbury Ready For Another Bite at the Apple? ...Middle East

The Chicago Bears will have a new head coach in 2025. And like the team that fired Matt Eberflus on Black Friday, we’re getting an early start on the search with this series that will profile potential head coaches for the franchise that resides at Halas Hall.

Since the Chicago Bears decided to draft Caleb Williams—and even before it became the outside consensus—Kliff Kingsbury’s name has been linked to Chicago. After spending one season with Williams at USC, Kingsbury received an offensive coordinator interview with the Bears before eventually landing in D.C. to work with another top quarterback in the 2024 draft class, Jayden Daniels. Now, Kingsbury will get a head coaching interview with the Bears.

Previous Bears Head Coach Search Profiles

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Kliff Kingsbury’s Coaching History

Kliff Kingsbury’s Coaching Origins and Influences

Kliff Kingsbury has enjoyed a bounce-back season with the Washington Commanders, joining the team after a year as a senior offensive analyst at USC. In 2023, he worked closely with standout quarterback Caleb Williams, who threw for 3,633 yards and 30 touchdowns while leading USC to average 41.85 points per game.

Kingsbury previously served as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals (2019-2022), where he guided the team to an 11-6 record and a playoff berth in 2021. That season, the Cardinals ranked in the top 10 in total offense, rushing, and touchdowns, with Kingsbury playing a pivotal role in quarterback Kyler Murray’s development. Under his guidance, Murray earned Pro Bowl honors in 2020 and was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019.

Before his NFL tenure, Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech from 2013-2018, where his offenses consistently ranked among the nation’s best. His teams averaged over 30 points per game every season, with standout performances from quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who led the NCAA in total offense in 2015. Kingsbury also helped Johnny Manziel win the Heisman Trophy in 2012 while serving as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator.

Kingsbury began his coaching career at Houston, where he contributed to record-setting offensive seasons from 2008-2011, including Case Keenum’s Heisman-finalist campaign in 2011.

A former player, Kingsbury was an accomplished quarterback at Texas Tech, setting 39 school and 17 NCAA records while earning the Sammy Baugh Trophy in 2002. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2003 and played professionally in the NFL, NFL Europe, and the CFL.

How does Kliff Kingsbury fit (or not) the Chicago Bears’ plans in 2025 and beyond?

Kingsbury has ties to Williams from their time together at USC, but that was Lincoln Riley’s show, and Kingsbury was an assistant. He rode that back into the NFL after being ousted in Arizona a few years ago. Now he’s earned an interview with the Bears for their head coaching vacancy after being passed on for the OC job in Chicago last offseason.

Is there a fit? Sure.

Do I love it? Absolutely not.

Can I be convinced? Possibly.

I think the “connection” to Caleb Williams has been incredibly overblown and shouldn’t be considered a leverage point for Kingsbury over another candidate. That said, Kingsbury’s résumé without a connection to Caleb Williams doesn’t excite me much.

Kingsbury has been successful as an offensive coach during his stops in the collegiate and pro ranks, but his time in Arizona left plenty to be desired regarding his ability to be an NFL head coach. That’s what sets him apart from other offensive coaches we’ve discussed through this process who have never been head coaches in the NFL.

In a recent story at ESPN, Kingsbury admitted that he didn’t do a good enough job of setting the tone and culture in Arizona, and now realizes that after spending a year working under Dan Quinn in Washington.

“I don’t think I set the foundation [in Arizona] the way I would do it after watching [Quinn] and how he set the foundation from day one,” Kingsbury said (Luis: Yeah, it sounds like Kliff’s ready for another bite at the apple). “These are the standards, this is what we want, this is what we’re going to be. I definitely could have done a better job of that.”

One Big Question

What will be different for Kingsbury if he got a second swing at being an NFL head coach?

I mentioned above that Kingsbury recently admitted that his time in Washington has allowed him to realize that he fell short in establishing a foundation. How he plans to correct that should be the most important question he has to answer in his interview with the Bears. If Kingsbury can answer that, the next question is how he plans to ensure Caleb Williams meets his potential.

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