On Wednesday morning, the Chicago Bears announced they had fired Luke Getsy as the team’s offensive coordinator. By Wednesday night, they had already made their first interview request. The Bears requested permission to interview Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron now that Pete Carroll is out as the Seahawks head coach. Waldron has spent the last three seasons running the Seattle offense and helped revive quarterback Geno Smith’s career in 2022. Prior to his experience in Seattle, Waldron also held positions with the Los Angeles Rams (2017–2020), Washington (2016), and New England (2009–2010) at the NFL level.
Waldron is the first person to be contacted for an interview, and he won’t be the last. There’s still a long way to go to determine if he will be the next offensive coordinator, but hiring him would give the team flexibility when it comes to the quarterback position and whether they stick with Justin Fields or draft a rookie with the No. 1 overall pick.
Thanks to his experience with Seattle and Los Angeles, Waldron has already worked with multiple high-level quarterbacks with different skill sets. With the Rams, he helped run McVay’s offense as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, which turned Jared Goff into a Pro Bowl quarterback from the pocket when he threw for 4,688 yards and 32 touchdowns. When he went to Seattle to be the offensive coordinator, Waldron then had Russell Wilson, who battled through injuries to still put together a solid season as a mobile quarterback with 3,113 yards, 25 touchdowns, and just six interceptions. He then, of course, worked with Smith and orchestrated an offense that was 10th in scoring last year and 13th in DVOA.
Under Shane Waldron in 2022 the Seahawks Off finished 9th in Points & 13th in Yards and had a DVOA of 13th in the #NFL.
While the points and yardage went to 17th and 21st respectively in 2023 the Seahawks Offensive DVOA was 12th in 2023. pic.twitter.com/srhPXooYiY
— The Irish Bears Show (@IrishBearsShow) January 11, 2024
Waldron has had success in each of his stops as a prominent offensive coach, but it’s the different types of quarterbacks he’s worked with that might mean the most to the Bears. Whether it’s a traditional pocket passer like Goff, a mobile quarterback like Wilson, or someone in between like Smith, Waldron has been able to design an offense around each player. That would bode well for the Bears, who have a decision to make at the position and could shake things up by moving on from Fields in favor of a quarterback.
Hiring Waldron would not pigeonhole them into running a certain type of offense based on who is under center. If Fields remains QB1, Waldron’s capable of designing an offense that fits his skill set similar to Wilson’s and could finally be the one to get the most out of him. Should they choose to draft someone with similar skills like Caleb Williams or more of a traditional pocket passer such as Drake Maye, Waldron can still cater his offense to their strengths while also developing them as players. He’s shown it before. Having someone with a variety of experiences like he has should only benefit a Bears offense that needs to establish a new identity.
Waldron would likely be an upgrade over what the Bears had previously with Getsy, but he’s no miracle worker. He struggled this past season with scoring and play calling, dropping from the 10th-highest-scoring offense in the league in 2022 to 21st this past season. For reference, the Bears under Getsy were 20th. But he’s an experienced play caller who has worked with very different quarterbacks, all of whom have had success when working with him. A move like this would give the Bears options with what to do at at the position, and that’s something they need as they enter this pivotal offseason.
