Caleb Williams’ rookie year in the NFL has been far from ideal. The Chicago Bears have already fired their head coach Matt Eberflus, and the franchise now has to find a perfect replacement who can adequately help in the quarterback’s development.
Since Thomas Brown will be the team’s interim head coach, Chris Beatty will serve as the interim offensive coordinator. Just 12 games into his career, Williams will now play with his third different offensive coordinator, which is very tough for a young player.
Aaron Rodgers, who has had immense success against the Bears in his career, recently was asked about what Chicago must do to help Williams, and he came up with a simple solution.
Aaron Rodgers Talks About Bears and Caleb Williams
In his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers mentioned that the Bears must hire a head coach who can connect with Williams “on a personal level.”
“The relationship’s gonna be really very important,” Rodgers said. “If you think he’s the face of the franchise and the future of the franchise for the next decade-plus, they need somebody who can come in and work with him and connect with him on a personal level.”
The four-time NFL MVP added, “I think every young quarterback, whether we want to admit it or not, we want to be coached really badly. You know, we don’t have all the answers; we’d love somebody to hold us accountable. My favorite coaches are, the coaches you want to play for were always the ones that you know that held you to a crazy level.”
"The Bears need somebody who can come in and connect with Caleb Williams..
I think every Quarterback wants to be coached and they wanna be held accountable..
I think you really need stability and the coach needs full backing from the organization" @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/KO9uUZhbab
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 3, 2024
Eberflus certainly had a disconnect with players, and it was pretty evident after reports emerged about Jaylon Johnson going off at him following the loss to the Detroit Lions. Since the former Bears head coach worked on the defensive side, it’s not hard to say that he might have failed to develop the required connection with Williams.
Rodgers gave an example, Tom Clements, and said he loved playing for him as the latter coached him hard. The former Green Bay Packers quarterback mentioned that showing Clements what he can do brought the best out of him and made everyone happy.
The Bears haven’t been as successful as the Packers due to organizational problems. As a result, general manager Ryan Poles has to continue his efforts to establish a winning culture. Getting the right head coach with the qualities that Rodgers mentioned will fix many things.
Bears Could Hire Kliff Kingsbury To Help Williams
Kliff Kingsbury is among the candidates the Bears will likely interview for their head coaching job after the season. The former Arizona Cardinals head coach worked with Williams for a year at USC and can connect with him both on and off the field.
Kingsbury went 28-37 during his four years with Arizona and made the playoffs just once. However, he has shown over the years that he is one of the best at developing young quarterbacks.
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He worked with Patrick Mahomes in college and brought the best out of Kyler Murray in the NFL. Kingsbury has also had an impressive season as the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator this year, while Jayden Daniels has had a phenomenal rookie season.
The Commanders have the fourth-best scoring offense in the league. Kingsbury deserves a lot of praise for it, as it is not easy to do such a thing with a rookie quarterback who doesn’t have an elite group of players around him.
Kingsbury might not be like Clements, but he is a modern-day coach who utilizes his own methods to get the best out of his quarterback. If the Bears intend to hire him, they need someone with leadership qualities for the defensive coordinator position, as Kinsgbury might not be the best candidate to connect with players on the other side of the ball.
