Kliff Kingsbury expected to interview for Chicago Bears offensive coordinator job

The Chicago Bears are reportedly bringing in Kliff Kingsbury for an interview for the open offensive coordinator position, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Kingsbury spent the 2023 season on staff with USC.

Previously, Kingsbury was the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals and was the head coach at Texas Tech before that. His role on the USC staff was as a senior offensive analyst and he helped coach quarterback Caleb Williams.

Williams is expected to be one of, if not the first player taken in the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit in April, and the Bears hold the No. 1 pick by way of a trade last offseason with the Carolina Panthers.

Former Cardinals’ HC Kliff Kingsbury, a senior offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach at USC, is expected to interview for the Chicago Bears’ offensive coordinator job, per sources. Kingsbury’s USC QB Caleb Williams is expected to receive strong consideration to become the… pic.twitter.com/kVFaI65sCp

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 18, 2024

The most obvious hang-up for the Bears taking Williams at No. 1 overall is that they currently have Justin Fields on the roster, who is coming off his most promising season in the pros. But the Bears could be candidates to trade Fields elsewhere for draft assets to load up on picks in the 2024 draft — Chicago holds No. 1 from the Panthers and its own pick at No. 9 — to jump-start the offense going into a critical 2025 for head coach Matt Eberflus.

Which path forward the Bears choose will shape the organization for years to come, but the interest in Kingsbury could be indicative of the direction the storied franchise is leaning.

The Bears aren’t alone in needing an OC

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be looking outside the organization for the team’s next offensive coordinator, head coach Mike Tomlin revealed to reporters on Thursday during his end-of-season press conference. Since firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada in late November, the team moved running backs coach Eddie Faulkner into the role of interim OC.

Now that the 2023 season is done, Tomlin is on the hunt for a new play-caller. He said on Thursday that Faulker and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan would not be considered for promotion. The Steelers offense put up 17 points in the loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round.

Under Canada, the Steelers were the first team in NFL history to be out-gained on offense in the first eight games of the season, and still have a winning record. Despite having a history of keeping coaches through the full slate of games, Tomlin chose to fire the coordinator in the middle of the season due to the offense’s performances.

To end the year, Pittsburgh had the No. 28-ranked offense, scoring just 17.8 points per game. The offense was 11th in rushing yards per game (117) but 25th in passing yards per game (187.8). They were also in the bottom 10 teams in red zone success, scoring touchdowns on just 48.8% of red zone trips.

On3’s Nikki Chavanelle contributed to this report.