Bears Head Coaching Candidate: Todd Monken |
With the Super Wild Card weekend winding down as the Vikings and Rams game ended on Monday night, it's time for the Chicago Bears to get back to reality. They will continue to interview several candidates for their next head coach. After completing an interview with Ben Johnson and, from all accounts, seeing him ace the Interview, most fans are expecting the Bears to offer him a contract, which can't happen until the Lions are officially done with their season.
Knowing that the Bears can't afford to stop interviewing candidates, you never know how things will wind up come to the end of the season. With several interviews set for the next few days, there is one name to keep an eye on: Baltimore Ravens offensive Coordinator Todd Monken, who is expected to be one of two candidates being interviewed on Wednesday. When you look at Monken and his track record as an offensive coordinator, you can see why the Bears want to bring him in, especially when you look at Lamar Jackson's success with him calling the shots. No one will sit here and compare Caleb Williams to Jackson, but both are mobile quarterbacks who can play a similar style. It gives Chicago fans confidence that he could get the most out of Williams. At 58 years old, Monken is much older than most of the assistant coaches being interviewed. Many feel that he is ready for a team of his own, and this could be the offseason that it happens. Some reports out there think Monken could be the next Bruce Arians, as he waited a long time to get his opportunity before becoming a great head coach. If Monken winds up being close to Arians in terms of his success, the Bears would be foolish not to consider him strongly. If he had that same kind of instant success, he would go down as one of the best coaches in franchise history. There is no question that the Illinois Native (Wheaton) has had plenty of offensive experience, but his past two seasons with the Ravens have put him on the map as their offense has emerged as one of the best in the game. Also, Jackson has played at an MVP level the past two seasons under Monken and just put together one of the best seasons ns in NFL history. Jackson's success didn't come as a surprise, as Monken has more than three decades of coaching experience, which all started at Grand Valley State in 1989. Anytime you have that many years of experience, you are not only doing something right, but the overall knowledge acquired during that time is second to none. Most of Monken's early career success came at the college level before landing his first NFL job with the Jacksonville Jaguars as the wide receiver coach from 2007-2010. Monken then returned to college, spending time as the Oklahoma State head coach before landing his first and only Head Coaching job with Southern Miss in 2013. Over the next three seasons, wins were tough to come by, as Monken posted a 13-26 record, but he did manage to reach a bowl game in one of those seasons. That alone was good enough to get him back into the NFL, where he latched on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to become their offensive coordinator in 2016. Over the next three seasons, Monken served as the Tampa offensive coordinator before going to Cleveland in 2019 and then the University of Georgia in 2020. His success with Bryce Young and some of those guys in Georgia was enough to get him back in the NFL, and he has been the Ravens' offensive coordinator for the past two seasons. Not only has Monken had success with the Ravens, but their offense has been taking things to the next level for the past two seasons, and Monken is a big part of that. In an era where passing is king, Monken continues to use the running game to set up the pass, but when you have a guy in Derrick Henry paired with Jackson, you better rely on the running game. The more the Ravens run the ball, the more lethal Jackson becomes in the passing game, and he has had the best season of his career through the air. Unless the Bears can shore up their offensive line, there is no chance they can have the same success as the Ravens; adding Monken as their coach would put them in a position to succeed, as he has the weapons and the quarterback to make things happen.
