Buccaneers' Offensive Coordinator Named Candidate to Chicago Bears Head Coaching Job

Has Dave Canales found enough success early to be in a position to get a head coaching job in the NFL soon?

Kade Kimble | Oct 3, 2023

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The NFL season has just passed Week 4 of action, and there have been many stories that have started developing. One of those has been the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showing signs of life despite Tom Brady's retirement this offseason.

Baker Mayfield has succeeded the seven-time Super Bowl winner, and his offense is being run by offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who has worked around the NFL since 2010. This is Canales' first big gig since working in the NFL, and he's succeeding.

In Week 4, the Buccaneers took on a very difficult defense in the New Orleans Saints with a banged-up defense. The offense came through and put up 26 points as the Buccaneers won 26-9.

With the early 3-1 record, Canales is now being brought up in potential head coaching conversations. The team in question? The Chicago Bears, which are 0-4 early into the season and struggling to find success with Justin Fields.

The reason Canales is being brought into the discussion is because of his ability to rejuvenate the quarterback play with Mayfield having a very solid season.

Pro Football Focus listed Canales as a coach to watch for a potential opening.

"Canales took over an offense that ranked dead last in play-action rate in 2022 and currently leads the NFL in play-action rate through Week 4, scoring 26 points in Week 4 against a New Orleans Saints defense that hadn’t allowed a team to post more than 20 points in 11 consecutive outings," PFF wrote.

What Canales has done has been impressive early on, and his only real dud of a game was against a very, very good Philadelphia Eagles team that was in the Super Bowl just a season ago.

"Canales has completely transformed the offense with a new quarterback in one offseason and will be an interesting name to monitor over the rest of the year," PFF continued.

Whether or not Canales is able to sustain success with the current iteration of the Buccaneers offense will be incredibly fun to watch, and it's hard to imagine they've reached their ceiling as the run game still has a ways to go before the full offense is unlocked fully.

Stick with BucsGameday and the Locked On Bucs podcast for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2023 season.

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Published Oct 3, 2023

KADE KIMBLE

Kade has been covering a wide variety of teams ranging from the NFL to the NBA and college athletics since joining Sports Illustrated's FanNation in 2022.