Bears request permission to interview another young and rising offensive mind for vacant head coaching position
The Chicago Bears have started to get the ball rolling with the head coach search and are requesting interviews with top candidates from around the league.Just on Monday, the Bears requested permission to speak with both Detroit Lions' coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn along with Miami Dolphins' defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. The team is […]
The Chicago Bears have started to get the ball rolling with the head coach search and are requesting interviews with top candidates from around the league.
Just on Monday, the Bears requested permission to speak with both Detroit Lions' coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn along with Miami Dolphins' defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. The team is also expected to sit down with former Tennessee Titans' head coach Mike Vrabel and will have interest in Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
Outside of Ben Johnson, all of those names are defensive-minded coaches, which is somewhat of a surprise to see this early in the search. For those worried about the lack of offensive-minded interest, worry no more. According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, the Bears requested an interview with Arizona Cardinals' offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.
The young and rising offensive mind was expected to get some interest for head coaching opportunities this cycle with the league sifting toward that style of a coach. At 37-years-old, Petzing has still been able to impress a lot of people around the league with his work with Kyler Murray in Arizona and with the Cleveland Browns as the quarterbacks coach in 2022.
During the 2023, Petzing's work really caught the eyes of those around the league after being forced to work with three different starting quarterbacks. In 2024, the Cardinals' offense took a major jump forward early in the year with Kyler Murray back and healthy.
However, the Cardinals finished the season going 2-5 over the final seven games, leading to the team missing the playoffs.
Despite the unideal end to the season, Petzing's offense still finished the year as an efficient unit with a dynamic running game. The Cardinals ranked 7th in the NFL with 5.9 yards per play and 7th with 144.2 rushing yards per game. In Week 9, Petzing had a solid audition against the Bears with his unit scoring 29 points and rushing for 213 yards, the most Chicago allowed on the ground all season.
Since Arizona was eliminated from playoff contention, the Bears are able to speak with Petzing as early as this week.
Bears request to interview both Lions’ coordinators after Detroit locked up the #1 seed, here’s how soon those interviews can take place
The interviews are set to begin this week.
