The Chicago Bears made an interesting move on Tuesday morning, firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after the offense didn’t score a touchdown against the New England Patriots this past Sunday.
Related: “Players Went To Matt Eberflus” Bears’ QB Caleb Williams Sees Embarrassing Story Go Viral
First-overall pick quarterback Caleb Williams has started to regress over the past couple of weeks, and many fans were worried that if the offense kept going the way it has, Williams would be a bust.
There is a great chance that their head coach, Matt Eberflus, will also be let go if the team doesn’t turn around in the next two months, but if somehow the 54-year-old head coach keeps his job, he will have to find a new offensive coordinator and one big name could be their new guy.
Caleb Williams Could See His Old Head Coach In Chicago
Alex Kay from Bleacher Report published an article titled OC Hires That Bears Should Pursue to Help Caleb Williams After Shane Waldron Firing and has the team hiring Caleb Williams’s old college coach, Lincoln Riley.
It wasn’t long ago that Lincoln Riley was widely regarded as one of college football’s best coaches. Riley led Oklahoma to a 55-10 record during his five seasons at the helm and then made a much-publicized move to USC to try and revitalize the once-proud program.
While Riley did help mold Williams into a star at Oklahoma and elevated him to a Heisman Trophy winner during their first season together at USC, he hasn’t replicated that success this year. He could soon be on his way out after going 23-13 during his two-plus seasons in L.A.
If Riley and USC do part ways—a fate that seems more probable with each disheartening loss, in addition to recent NCAA sanctions—he may need to make a pit stop in the NFL to rehabilitate his status. Linking back up with Williams could be exactly what both the coach and player need to rejuvenate their respective careers.
Riley would be a slam-dunk hire for the Bears. He’s overseen some of college football’s top offenses since he began coordinating under Bob Stoops back in 2015 and has continued to call plays since becoming a head coach for the first time in 2017. He’s developed three of the last seven Heisman winners—all quarterbacks—and clearly knows how to get the most out of a signal-caller.
Installing a system that Williams thrived in—the No. 1 overall pick racked up 4,537 yards and 42 touchdowns against only five interceptions during his Heisman season—would almost certainly have a transformative effect on Chicago’s offensive output.
It would be interesting to see Riley reunite with Williams, but Riley probably won’t be getting fired from USC this season, even with how bad they have been. And leaving a great head coaching job for an offensive coordinator role is something Riley probably won’t be doing.
