The Chicago Bears have an important vacancy to fill at offensive coordinator after firing Luke Getsy after two seasons.
Head coach Matt Eberflus will get a second crack at hiring an offensive coordinator, which becomes one of the most important moves of the offseason — outside of the team’s decision at quarterback.
During his end-of-year press conference, Eberflus explained what he’s looking for in a new offensive coordinator — and it sounds like he’s looking for a more explosive offense than under Getsy.
“Obviously you want to have somebody that’s a great teacher,” Eberflus said. “I think that’s important because you know he has to coach the coaches to coach the position. And I think that’s the No. 1 trait of any great coach – you have to be able to have the innovation to really look at the players that you have and be able to help enhance and put those guys in position to succeed and to get explosives and to move the ball down the field.”
With the uncertainty at quarterback — as the Bears have to choose between sticking with quarterback Justin Fields or drafting a rookie — general manager Ryan Poles said adaptability to different quarterbacks will play a role during the interview process.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in the process. We’re going to get kicked off in terms of finding the right fit,” Poles said. “And we talked about it a little bit, but the ability to be adaptable to the talent that you have is critical. I think Matt hit it, and we saw it across the league. There were some teams that actually got better with a lot of changes. If you don’t have the ability to adapt and adjust to the talent that you have at that position, it makes it really hard. So that’s going to be a part of our process.”
Eberflus said their phones have been “blowing up” already about the two coordinator vacancies, making them “highly coveted positions.”
The Bears have also wasted no time in their search, requesting to interview Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who’s now a free agent with Pete Carroll out as head coach.
