Without a press conference held yet, the Bears are leaving everything open to speculation over their direction with the draft’s top pick.So feel free.It’s always best to base any speculation on fact, though. Otherwise it’s only a guess.
Here are some facts about the direction the Bears have gone with their hunt for an offensive coaching staff.
The speculation over where these hirings point for whether they draft Caleb Williams or retain Justin Fields is best left here to the reader.
1. The OC Choice
They didn’t hire USC assistant and Air Raid offense proponent Kliff Kingsbury, who had been around Williams throughout the 2023 season as an assistant under head coach Lincoln Riley. The draft’s expected No. 1 pick was running a version of the Air Raid offense at USC.
Instead, the choice was Shane Waldron, the former Seahawks offensive coordinator and a Sean McVay disciple.
2. The OC’s Experience
Waldron’s experience as a Seattle offensive coordinator has been working with Russell Wilson, then Geno Smith. He worked a few years with Jared Goff. He gets some credit for helping resurrect the career of Smith, who has been in the NFL since 2013 with the Jets. Seattle is Smith’s fourth NFL team.
When Waldron got to Seattle for his first NFL season as an OC, it was Wilson’s 10th season as starter.
Waldron has never been associated with taking a quarterback who had been drafted and developing them into a successful NFL player.
He broke in as a coach with New England in 2008 but Tom Brady was already in his ninth NFL season and Waldron didn’t work with the QBs. At first, he was quality control coach, then in his second year was the tight ends coach.
After his two Patriots season, Waldron was in college football but then returned to the NFL in 2016 on McVay’s offensive staff under coach Jay Gruden. But he was quality control coach.
The next year, McVay went to the Rams and it was QB Jared Goff’s rookie season. But Waldron wasn’t involved with QBs. He was tight ends coach and current Packers coach Matt LaFleur was the OC. Bengals coach Zac Taylor was quarterbacks coach.
Waldron began working with Goff in his second season but it was as passing game coordinator. Taylor was still QB coach.
Finally, in Goff’s third season he began working more closely with Waldron as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. Waldron coached Goff then for two years, the second season with Kevin O’Connell as offensive coordinator. Then Waldron left for Seattle.
3. The QB Coach Choice
In many ways, it’s easy to see how new Bears QB coach Kerry Joseph was even more influential in the resurrection of Smith’s career than Waldron. The Bears on Friday night confirmed the hiring of Joseph as QB coach.
After a year with Cincinnati and then a four-year career with the Seahawks as a DB, Waldron switched back to his college position of quarterback in the CFL and was a Grey Cup winner in 2007, and league MVP.
Eventually he returned to Seattle in 2020 as a coach but had never been an NFL quarterbacks coach until 2022, during Smith’s first year with the Seahawks. Joseph been assistant wide receivers coach in 2021 and in 2020 an offensive assistant. In 2022 and 2023 was when he became the Seattle assistant quarterbacks coach.
So like with Waldron, he has never actually developed a young QB. But his presence helped Smith restart a career that had stalled after his first two seasons as Jets starter in 2013 and 2014.
4. QB Coach’s Playing Experience
While Joseph wasn’t a quarterback in the NFL, he was one at McNeese State and also in the CFL. And he was definitely a running QB.
Joseph became the third CFL QB ever to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season.
Joseph ran for 4,584 yards in his CFL career and passed for 28,097 yards. He had 63 rushing TDs and 148 passing TDs with 126 interceptions during a career with Saskatchewan, Toronto, Ottawa and Edmonton. He won the Grey Cup with Saskatchewan and finished his career in 2014 with that team.
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