Bears Meeting Kliff Kingsbury May Have Ulterior Motive

Ryan Poles said his goal isn't to scout talent at quarterback in the 2024 draft once the off-season gets going next month. He's already done that over the course of the past year. His job is to scout the personalities. Playing quarterback in the NFL is hard. Playing it in Chicago is even harder. That much has proven true over the years. Not only is this a huge media market, but it's a ravenous sports town. Fans here are passionate, vocal, and unforgiving if you don't perform up to expectations. That is why Poles must get every available detail on these guys, and it starts with Caleb Williams. That is where Kliff Kingsbury comes in.

The former Arizona Cardinals head coach joined the USC coaching staff last season as a quarterbacks coach and senior assistant. That meant he worked directly with the star quarterback. So it was noteworthy when news broke that Bears representatives traveled to Los Angeles to meet with him. While it was supposedly to talk about their open offensive coordinator position, most believe it was more of a fact-finding mission on Williams.

Here is where it gets interesting.

Mason West of Bears Bones stated on Twitter (X) that the Bears not only want to meet Kingsbury because of his experience with quarterbacks but also an apparent frosty relationship between him and Williams. That by would be no reason to feel concerned until national insider Benjamin Allbright fanned the flames further.

Kliff Kingsbury can provide details others can't.

There have been rumblings of personality concerns with Williams for some time. His father is notorious for being rather overbearing, sticking his nose into everything his son does. There was also the incident in the bowl game where teammates were heard stating they were "finally a team." It also happened to be a game Williams sat out. Maybe a coincidence. Now these new details come out, indicating the young quarterback has a personality that is difficult for some to deal with.

That said, Kliff Kingsbury does have a reputation for being difficult to deal with himself. There was lots of tension between him and Kyler Murray in Arizona. Baker Mayfield grew to hate him as a freshman at Texas Tech, leading to his transfer to Oklahoma. So all of the blame can't fall at Williams' feet if there is a lack of cohesion between the two. This information is something the Bears know they need to hear. That is why they flew out to the west coach for answers. One can imagine Kingsbury's testimony will help shape the profile they build of the young quarterback.