Chicago Bears coaching interviews: A new “sleeper” candidate has made his case in the process

Despite the Chicago Bears already requesting 16 first round interviews for their head coaching vacancy, more surprises could in store than one would think. The front office completed a slew of interviews on Thursday, which including talking to options like Pete Carroll and Drew Petzing.

With the organization potentially leaning toward an offensive mind, there can never be too many choices. This makes all of the sense in the world for this potential “surprise” candidate.

Todd Monken has been linked to the Chicago Bears

In a report from Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron, he has strong belief that Monken will do well when his time comes to interview for the Bears vacancy.

“I have a feeling that Monken is going to knock his interview out of the park,” Zimmerman writes. He’s almost 60, but he’s like Pete Carroll and has a youthful aura around him, and I think the Bears will today be hook, line and sinker here and buy-in. Monken is a local Chicago guy and has an extensive coaching record and I just have a feeling he will be a finalist for the job.”

As Zimmerman mentioned, Monken is very familiar with Chicago in general. The current Ravens offensive coordinator was born in Wheaton and has strong ties to the Chicagoland area. However, Monken being from Wheaton is the farthest reason as to why he is being considered for this role.

Monken has been around the game of football for a very long time. He began his coaching as a graduate assistant in 1989 with Grand Valley State and has been apart of the coaching brotherhood ever since.

In the NFL, Monken has bounced around all over the place on offensive staffs. His first gig in the league came in 2007 when he was the wide receivers coach in Jacksonville. He lasted with the Jaguars until 2010 before returning to the college ranks to serve as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma State.

Monken returned to the NFL for the 2016 campaign. He became the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for Tampa Bay and stayed with the franchise until 2019. He then shifted his focus to Georgia in yet another stint with the college game. He was with the Bulldogs from 2020-2022 before being brought on by Baltimore last year.

The Chicago Bears could use an offensive mind like Todd Monken

Monken’s age and lack of head coaching experience throughout his entire time coaching football can definitely be seen as a red flag to NFL front offices that might consider him as a candidate in this cycle. However, his track record is quite impressive and he has proved that he is more than comfortable working with an offense in any situation.

The time Monken has spent over the last two seasons with Lamar Jackson is what the Bears front office and ownership should pay attention to with him as a candidate. Jackson won the MVP award a season ago and has comfortably put himself in the conversation for the award this year.

If someone could unlock Caleb Williams’ full potential as he enters his second NFL season, it is Monken. Williams should be the focal point of this coaching search for Chicago, and if the interview goes well for Monken he could easily put himself in the race to be the team’s next head coach.