Bear Digest

Pondering Theories Behind Mike Kafka's Bears Coaching Interview

Analysis: The Giants offensive coordinator completed his Bears head coaching interview Thursday evening and could have been of interst for several reasons.

Gene Chamberlain

Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka got to be head coach in the East-West Shrine game last year and is a Bears job candidate.
Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka got to be head coach in the East-West Shrine game last year and is a Bears job candidate. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
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There can be many reasons for a team to interview a coach.

Mainly it's to consider hiring them, other times it might be to get information and others simply because the candidate is someone they might know or want to get to know better.

For instance, last year it was widely believed the Bears spoke with Kliff Kingsbury because they wanted more information on Caleb Williams and not really to hire him as an OC. They obviously should have hired him.

The Bears finished interviewing New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka on Thursday evening and of all the candidates he might have been the least qualified or at least among them. Perhaps it was a favor or friendship type of interview from Ryan Poles, who worked in Kansas City when Kafka started there as a quality control coach in 2017 before he moved up to quarterback coach for Patrick Mahomes.

Perhaps it was to tap into a coach who was instrumental in the development of a young quarterback. After all, Caleb Williams has been compared in style to Mahomes and the Bears GM might want some perspective on developing a young QB.

Kafka definitely had a hand in the early part of Mahomes' career and the fact he hasn't had a quarterback with a similar high level of talent held back his New York Giants offense.

Kafka's best year in New York as coordinator was when they were 18th on offense in 2022, 15th in scoring. The last two years they were 29th and 30th on offense and 30th and 31st in scoring.

When Kafka had Saquon Barkley healthy and running they were fourth in rushing in 2022 but they dropped off after and were never higher than 26th in passing in all three of his years there.

Kafka is coordinating the Brian Daboll offense and in 2024 did not call the plays. However, he did call plays in 2022 and 2023 but Daboll took back play-calling duties this past season while keeping Kafka on organizing the attack.

Kafka was asked about a season without calling plays as the Giants were getting ready for their final game against the Eagles.

Reporters at the Giants practice facility wanted to know if he would go back in his mind while watching game film and evaluate hat he might do differently if he was calling plays.

"I mean that's really with any game, whether you're calling it or not, even when you're watching someone else's tape against the opponent you're about to play, you're thinking about those situations," Kafka said. "So, it's one thing to kind of watch the grand scope of the game, but then when you break down individual situations like 'why would a team call this?' Or 'why would you call this?' Or 'wow, this was kind of different.'

"So yeah, you learn from a bunch of different coordinators. I've learned a lot from Dabs (Daboll). I learned a lot from (Chiefs) coach (Andy) Reid. The guys that I've been around. I've learned a lot from the coordinators and head coaches that I've been around as a player. Norv Turner and Marty Mornhinweg and Matt Nagy and Doug Pederson. And I can go down the list of guys that I've learned from. So, you just take all those experiences and learn from it and grow."

Perhaps Kafka has grown more than most would say based on the Giants experience, and maybe he's a more solid candidate for the Bears job than is expected.

Kafka was asked about his future by the Giants press corps and gave a murky sort of non-answer.

"Obviously, I love being here and I love working for Dabs and everybody," Kafka said.

Perhaps Kafka is a more serious candidate than he's given credit for, because he already sounds like a head coach.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.