A lot of people were upset with the Chicago Bears last year. The team had drafted Caleb Williams as their next quarterback. Some felt the obvious decision that should've been made was hiring Kliff Kingsbury, either as the next head coach or at least the new offensive coordinator. He had plenty of head coaching experience from his time with Texas Tech and the Arizona Cardinals. He'd spent a year at USC working with Williams. It seemed like such an obvious match. In the end, the Bears passed.
It looked like a really bad decision at first. Kingsbury went to Washington, where he took over the development of Jayden Daniels. Together, they reached the NFC Championship, putting together the #5 scoring offense in the process. Chicago's offense was a jumbled mess. People were furious. However, time has a way of revealing the truth. Even during the peak days last year, some warned that Kingsbury's success had a shelf life. It always did, as his time in Arizona proved.
Defenses caught up eventually.
Sure enough, Washington dropped to 25th this year. Daniels didn't look the same and suffered injury problems. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, there is growing friction between Kingsbury and the Commanders' front office.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn is expected back for the 2026 season, though changes to the offense and the defense remain possible after Washington has slumped to a 4-12 record. Quinn took over defensive play calling from Joe Whitt Jr. in early November, and Washington has also had conversations about potentially moving on from Kingsbury even if he doesn’t get a head-coaching job. Some in the building say there’s been a disconnect between Kingsbury and general manager Adam Peters. When was the last time we were watching to see if an offensive coordinator was going to get fired while he was also preparing for head coaching interviews? We’ll see how this shakes out.
She isn't the only one reporting this. Tom Pelissero indicated the same thing during his own comments for NFL Network. Kingsbury is in hot water.
Changes on offense also are possible, though it’s not yet clear how, or when, those could come about. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is expected to get head coach interviews and could be headed elsewhere.
The Bears made the right call on Kliff Kingsbury.
There is no question that he is a sharp offensive mind. The problem is he's not what you'd call an innovator. Much of his success over the years has been credited to having excellent quarterbacks. He had Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech and then Kyler Murray in Arizona. One thing you notice about both tenures is that neither quarterback really developed. Both played the same style of sitting in the shotgun, running around, and making big plays with their arms. Kingsbury's offense initially made that work for a time, but once defenses found countermeasures, he was unable to evolve.
That is the situation the Bears would've put Williams in had they done the popular thing by hiring him. Kliff Kingsbury would've kept him in an offense very similar to what Williams knew at USC. He probably would've put up big numbers, but also taken a lot of sacks and never learned how to truly win against NFL defense. That is what Ben Johnson has helped teach him with his much more pro-oriented system. Sometimes the best decisions aren't apparent immediately.
