The Bears were busy requesting HC interviews today, with a number of coordinators and former NFL head coaches garnering interest. The team is thinking a bit outside the box with their latest candidate, as NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the organization requested an interview with Broncos senior personnel executive David Shaw.
While Shaw most recently worked in an NFL front office, he’s no stranger to the sideline. Shaw spent more than a decade coaching at Stanford, including a 12-year stint as their head coach. He had a successful start to his head coaching career, guiding the Cardinal football team to six AP top-20 rankings through his first seven years at the helm. Stanford also made eight-straight bowl appearances, but the team struggled a bit during Shaw’s final seasons at the school.
Between 2019 and 2022, the team went only 14-28, including a 6-18 showing during his final two seasons. Following the conclusion of the 2022 campaign, Shaw resigned from his position. He resurfaced this past offseason when he joined the Broncos as a front office executive.
While Shaw made a name for himself in the college ranks, he also has coaching experience in the NFL. He had stints as QBs coach with both the Raiders and Ravens, and he also served as Baltimore’s wide receivers coach. Shaw has also been a mainstay in recent head coaching searches, interviewing for gigs with the Chargers, Titans, and Broncos over the past two years.
The list of candidates for the Bears head coaching job continues to grow. Just today, the team requested interviews with 10 candidates: Lions OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn, Giants OC Mike Kafka, Cardinals OC Drew Petzing, Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver, Ravens OC Todd Monken, Steelers OC Arthur Smith, Vikings DC Brian Flores, and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.
Maybe it’s just me, but the fact that they have no less than 10 people they are interested in tells me they have no idea what they are doing or what direction they feel they need to go
As a bears fan, I’m right there with ya! Like damn you guys had a 5 week head start to hone in on the guys you wanted to interview.WTF! lol same ol bears!
You could be right. I like to think it as just doing due diligence, making sure they’re not overlooking someone. They had a fairly small group to choose from last time, and you see where it lead to. They might learn some things about their own team they didn’t know or their future competition during the interviews as well. Hopefully, they find the answers needed to right the ship!
@Joe… Maybe it’s a combination of both of our feelings. Maybe Poles and Warren (a complete buffoon) have no idea what they need to do and are open to hearing suggestions from several candidates and will pick the one they feel is the best for Caleb because at the end of the day, his development is by far the most important factor in this decision
Your last statement is spot on. Caleb’s development is everything. I’d love for Ben Johnson to be the guy, but I could see them trying to sell us on the culture change is why they went with someone else. The good thing is that it won’t drag on for months and months. We’ll know relatively soon.
The issue is there’s, what, maybe 4-5 reasonable candidates? Take dudes like McCarthy, Kafka, and one or two others off and it looks reasonable.
Agreed. I was also waiting to hear Jon Gruden’s name tossed in. That would be entertaining if nothing else.
No harm in casting a wide net and hearing different perspectives. Denver’s had an impressive turnaround. Why not pick the brain of someone in that building for the price of a couple flights and a nice meal?
maybe but when your direction has been south for so long, maybe casting a wide net makes the most sense
now that being said, if Shaw gets the job, something went horribly wrong.
This just proves that Poles is leading the search this time and he knows it’s probably going to be his only shot. So he’s afraid to miss. 6 guys should be more than enough to interview. 10 or more is just going to clutter his head. Either way he better not miss or he surely will be gone if he misfires. I’m not blaming Eberlose on him anyway.
requesting an interview and actually interviewing are two different things. it’s quite likely at least 2-3 turn them down
As I said before, At least they’re doing it the right way for the first time in 50 years. They have a team President. He likes the GM so he kept him. Now the GM gets to hire HIS coach. Now whether they are the right guys to MAKE that decision, That’s whole different story. Anyway Poles got a pat on the back from Caleb anyway. That helps a bit.
Bears management & ownership are both clueless…
If they don’t hire Ben Johnson it’s going to be a repeat of Justin Fields all over again. McCarthy is out of touch on the new age of offensive play calling.
The fact is this is Chicago ready to let the best man SHAW Win the job and have Warren,Pole,Cunningham & HC Brain Shaw the first all black staff under McCaskie who is a good man also this could be a dream team staff wise.This one can hope we can look over the obvious best choice’s in the NFL.