Looking forward to the offseason, the No. 1 priority for the Chicago Bears will be to find a head coach. Late in Chicago’s 30-12 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, Aikman suggested that the Bears should go after San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
Shanahan remains under contract with the 49ers and while the 2024 season has been a disappointment for San Francisco, there’s nothing to indicate that he might be fired after the season. So, if the Bears were to land Shanahan, it would have to be via trade. Different pundits have suggested that the Bears try to trade for Shanahan.
That’s an idea Aikman agrees with.
“There has been discussion about, ‘Do you give up some picks and see if you can maybe make a deal for a guy like Kyle Shanahan?’ I would be all in on that. Because he would develop a quarterback and is a hell of a head coach.”
Troy Aikman weighs in on the possibility…
“There has been discussion about, ‘Do you give up some picks and see if you can maybe make a deal for a guy like Kyle Shanahan?’ I would be all in on that. Because he would develop a quarterback and is a hell of a head coach.” https://t.co/iEZ4agFIZk pic.twitter.com/ngs66LoR40
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 17, 2024
Whoever the next coach is, his most important job will be in helping quarterback Caleb Williams develop. The Bears used the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Williams. And while his rookie season hasn’t been a complete disaster, it has been challenging.
Aikman went on to speculate about whether the Bears would — or even could — make the trade happen. But he also expressed some potential pitfalls about potentially hiring a younger coach.
“But can you pull that off? That’s a better question,” he said. “And who might you hire that has no head coaching experience as an offensive guy? You never know the answer to that, as to how good they’re going to be.”
