Are Bears Using Former Cardinals HC for Caleb Williams Intel?

Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is interviewing for the Chicago Bears' vacant offensive coordinator position.

ARIZONA -- Former Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury is interviewing with the Chicago Bears for their vacant offensive coordinator position after a tumultuous 2023 campaign saw practically the team's entire offensive staff released. 

Kingsbury is currently an offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach at USC, having recently joined the Trojans this past season after the Cardinals fired him. 

NFL insider Ian Rapoport pointed out Chicago could have extra motivation to bring Kingsbury into the building, thanks to his familiarity with quarterback Caleb Williams, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. 

From The Insiders on #NFLPlus: The #Bears interviewed former #AZCardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury as an OC candidate. pic.twitter.com/axcosqUtvT

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 19, 2024

"Could he be their offensive coordinator? Sure, that makes sense. He's always been excellent at that. However, he also coached Caleb Williams - a potential No. 1 overall pick," Rapoport said. 

"You can't ignore the fact that the Bears are probably going to get some really good, insightful intelligence on where Caleb Williams is, what he likes, what works, what didn't work, what led to the kind of year he had on the field, all of those things. At the absolute least, the Bears are getting a sneak peek at somebody they'll be considering at No. 1..."

Kingsbury has been a heavily rumored name for other coaching opportunities, as he was reportedly in the race to stay at the college ranks and become Houston's head coach while also being brought up by a handful of insiders as a name to watch for offensive coordinator openings at the NFL level. 

Kingsbury interviewed with the Houston Texans last offseason before joining Lincoln Riley's staff at USC. He's previously worked with quarterbacks such as Johnny Manziel, Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield. 

Like Rapoport alluded to, the Bears bringing Kingsbury in for a chat can only do good things for their scouting of what could be the next face of their franchise.