The Bears are planning to interview Kentucky Football offensive coordinator Liam Coen for their opening at the offensive coordinator position, according to recent reports.
Coen, 38, has predominantly worked in the college football space since 2010. Kentucky is the fifth university he's worked at, with an array of positions outside of offensive coordinator.
He was the offensive coordinator for the Rams in 2022. That season, the Rams owned the 27th-ranked offense in the NFL, posting 18.1 points per game. This season, in 2023, the Rams have the 8th best offense in the league, since Coen's departure.
In his defense, he's greatly improved Kentucky's offense, bringing them to the No. 50 offense in the country which is a great improvement from their 111th-ranked offense last season.
Coen is the third offensive coordinator candidate the Bears will interview, according to reports. The Bears will also interview Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and San Francisco 49ers passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak.
MORE: Bears to interview Shane Waldron, Klint Kubiak for offensive coordinator position: reports
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Waldron, 44, is the current offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. Seeing, however, that Pete Carroll is no longer the head coach in Seattle, the replacement would likely jettison Waldron.
Waldron has been Seattle's OC since 2021. Before then, he was the passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. He spent 2017-20 with the Rams. He was also an operations assistant with the New England Patriots, with whom he won two Super Bowls.
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Under Waldron, Seattle has ranked 16th, 10th, and 17th in scoring offense. They have ranked 24th, 12th, and 14th in passing yards per game. Waldron received a lot of praise for his work with Geno Smith in 2022 when the quarterback won the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Kubiak, 36, is the current passing game coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers. He's been an offensive coordinator before; he was the OC for the Minnesota Vikings in 2021. He also spent the 2022 season as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Denver Broncos. He's the son of longtime NFL coach Gary Kubiak.
Kubiak took over as the 49ers' passing game coordinator this season after Bobby Slowik left to become the Houston Texans' offensive coordinator. Kubiak is thought of highly in league circles. He is seen as a cerebral offensive mind, much like his father, Gary Kubiak, and has had some experience as a play-caller after taking over the duties down the stretch for the Denver Broncos last season.
The Shanahan/Kubiak tree has had a lot of successful branches in the NFL. League evaluators view Kubiak as integral to Brock Purdy's superb season. For what it's worth, Coen runs a similar Shanahan offense, which appears to be an attractive quality for the Bears.
