BREAKING NEWS: OC hires Bears should pursue to support Caleb Williams after Shane Waldron firing .giang

The Chicago Bears’ offense has been up and down all season, but it hit a new low in Week 10 when it scored only three points in an upset loss to the New England Patriots. Not only did the painful defeat drop the Bears below .500 for the first time since Week 3, but it also decimated their playoff odds.

On Tuesday, the 4-5 Bears made the first of what could become a series of changes to their coaching staff. They fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, whom they hired less than a year ago.

The Bears are promoting passing game coordinator Thomas Brown to Waldron’s vacated post and will give him an eight-game tryout, but they could opt to pursue an outside hire after the season. They can’t afford another misstep at offensive coordinator after whiffing on both Waldron and predecessor Luke Getsy.

Time is of the essence after spending the No. 1 overall pick on quarterback Caleb Williams this past offseason. Although Williams hasn’t performed as abysmally as 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, the rookie is only completing 60.5 percent of his throws and has just 1,785 passing yards and nine touchdowns against five interceptions across his first nine starts.

Nailing the offensive coordinator hire would afford the Bears more flexibility when it comes time to determine the fate of head coach Matt Eberflus, who has gone 14-29 since being hired prior to the 2022 season. With the right OC in place, the Bears could widen their search to include defensive experts and well-rounded coaches rather than being limited to offensive masterminds who can maximize Williams’ potential.

Given how many promising up-and-coming candidates are expected to be available this offseason, Chicago should have its pick of the litter for its next offensive coordinator. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the top candidates for the job.

In the span of a half-decade, Jerrod Johnson has gone from playing in the Your Call Football league to becoming one of the more intriguing candidates to fill an offensive coordinator position.

Johnson’s journey to his current gig as the Houston Texans’ quarterbacks coach started when he took a fellowship with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019. He had an opportunity to learn under notable quarterback whisperer Frank Reich that season and worked as the team’s offensive quality control coach over the ensuing two years.

After a quick stint as the Minnesota Vikings’ assistant quarterbacks coach in 2022, Johnson landed his current job with the Texans when DeMeco Ryans took the reins last year. Johnson was instrumental in C.J. Stroud’s rapid evolution into a franchise quarterback, helping the No. 2 overall pick win Rookie of the Year honors and a playoff game.

Johnson’s work with Stroud earned him offensive coordinator interviews with both the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year. However, the 36-year-old opted to spurn his NFC South suitors and remain with Houston in 2024.

While Johnson declined to take the next step on the coaching ladder last year, he might be more receptive to an opportunity to get Williams’ career on track. Pulling that off would be a major feather in Johnson’s cap and could put him on a short list of head coaching candidates for the 2026 hiring cycle.

Chandler Whitmer is one of the more intriguing offensive coordinator options whom the Bears could make a run at this offseason.

Whitmer worked as the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive quality control coach under Brandon Staley from 2021 through 2023. He was instrumental in shepherding Justin Herbert into an elite signal-caller during that span and could potentially have that same impact on Williams.

While the Bolts had a down 2023 season, Whitmer helped the squad’s offense rank in the top 10 during both 2021 and 2022. Herbert earned a Pro Bowl nod during Whitmer’s first year on the job, throwing for a franchise-record 5,014 yards and racking up 38 touchdowns.

Whitmer is now the Atlanta Falcons’ pass game specialist under head coach Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. Atlanta made a major free-agent splash this offseason by signing Kirk Cousins and has successfully integrated him one year less than removed from an Achilles tear.

Although the Falcons are only 6-4 on the season, the passing offense has shown vast year-over-year improvements. With Cousins at the helm, Atlanta is currently averaging a shade over 250 yards per game through the air—ranking fifth in the league—and has racked up 17 passing touchdowns. Last year, Atlanta averaged 207.8 passing yards per game (22nd leaguewide) and had only 17 passing touchdowns all season.

Having now shown he can succeed with both an up-and-comer and a well-established quarterback, Whitmer could be the answer to Chicago’s passing woes. If the Bears hired him as their next offensive coordinator, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they took a leap similar to the one Atlanta has in 2024.

Nate Scheelhaase’s name should sound familiar to Illinois fans. The quarterback spent the 2010 through 2013 seasons starting under center for the Fighting Illini and still holds the program’s record for career total offensive yards.

Scheelhaase is now finding similar success climbing his way up the coaching ladder. He moved from several roles at his alma mater starting in 2015 to his current gig as offensive assistant and passing game specialist for the Los Angeles Rams.

During the six years between these two stops, Scheelhaase spent his time at Iowa State as a running backs and wide receivers coach before becoming the Cyclones’ offensive coordinator. In his lone season as OC, Scheelhaase helped improve Iowa State’s scoring output by six points per game and oversaw a unit that led the nation with 11 scoring plays of 50 or more yards.

Scheelhaase’s work with quarterback Rocco Becht during the 2023 season was impressive. Becht was named the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year after amassing 3,120 yards and 23 touchdowns while guiding the program to a respectable 7-6 record.

The Rams are also doing well with Scheelhaase in the mix. They rank eighth in the league in passing yards per game, moving up several spots from last year. They’ve done so despite missing top wideouts Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua for a large swath of the campaign.

The Bears could give Scheelhaase his first shot at overseeing an NFL offense. He’s found success at every stop of his football journey and would be a strong bet to continue that trend while helping Williams and Co. get on the right track.

Grant Udinski has elevated his status in coaching circles with the work he’s done during the last two seasons as the Minnesota Vikings’ assistant quarterbacks coach.

Minnesota surprisingly finished 2023 as a top-five passing offense despite losing starting quarterback Kirk Cousins halfway through the season to a torn Achilles. Udinski helped get the most out of unheralded backups such as Nick Mullens and Joshua Dobbs, salvaging an otherwise lost campaign.

This year, Udinski and the Vikings have accomplished something three other teams couldn’t: They’ve helped turn Sam Darnold into a legitimate starting NFL quarterback.

After flaming out with the New York Jets, the No. 3 overall pick in 2018 spent time with both the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers before landing in Minnesota this offseason. While he was expected to serve as a bridge to 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, Darnold’s strong play could result in him keeping a hold on the job for a while longer.

Darnold has guided the Vikings to a 7-2 record—already matching their win total from last year—and is tied for the fourth-most touchdown passes in the league with 17. Despite playing in arguably the toughest division in football, the team is right in the hunt for an NFC North title and playoff berth.

While the Vikings would hate to lose Udinski to one of their biggest rivals, the chance to run an offense in Chicago and jump-start Williams’ career could be too alluring for the up-and-coming coach to pass up.

It wasn’t long ago that Lincoln Riley was widely regarded as one of college football’s best coaches. Riley led Oklahoma to a 55-10 record during his five seasons at the helm and then made a much-publicized move to USC to try and revitalize the once-proud program.

While Riley did help mold Williams into a star at Oklahoma and elevated him to a Heisman Trophy winner during their first season together at USC, he hasn’t replicated that success this year. He could soon be on his way out after going 23-13 during his two-plus seasons in L.A.

If Riley and USC do part ways—a fate that seems more probable with each disheartening loss, in addition to recent NCAA sanctions—he may need to make a pit stop in the NFL to rehabilitate his status. Linking back up with Williams could be exactly what both the coach and player need to rejuvenate their respective careers.

Riley would be a slam-dunk hire for the Bears. He’s overseen some of college football’s top offenses since he began coordinating under Bob Stoops back in 2015 and has continued to call plays since becoming a head coach for the first time in 2017. He’s developed three of the last seven Heisman winners—all quarterbacks—and clearly knows how to get the most out of a signal-caller.

Installing a system that Williams thrived in—the No. 1 overall pick racked up 4,537 yards and 42 touchdowns against only five interceptions during his Heisman season—would almost certainly have a transformative effect on Chicago’s offensive output.