Bears plan to hire Shane Waldron as OC

Report: Bears plan to hire Shane Waldron as OC originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The Chicago Bears’ exhaustive search for their next offensive coordinator has come to an end.

After almost two weeks of interviews, the Bears plan to hire former Seattle offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported Monday morning.

Waldron spent the last three seasons as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. The 44-year-old worked with both Russell Wilson and Geno Smith. He played a crucial role in helping Smith win Comeback Player of the Year in 2022.

Waldron previously spent four seasons coaching under McVay with the Rams as the passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and tight ends coach.

In three seasons in Seattle, Waldron’s offense ranked 12th in EPA per play, 13th in success rate, eighth in EPA per rush, and ninth in EPA per dropback. The Seahawks’ offense ranked fifth in yards per play, fifth in explosive run percentage, and ninth in explosive pass play rate.

Waldron’s units have been good in converting first downs into a new series (2nd in the NFL) but struggled in the red zone (51.5 percent touchdown rate) and on third down (38.5 percent conversation rate).

After firing offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus said they would be looking for a candidate who is a “great teacher,” “adaptable,” able to “create explosives,” and “innovative.

Waldron seems to check all of those boxes. He comes from the favored Shanahan tree — an offense that uses the run game to stretch the field horizontally and open up windows in the passing game. The quarterback-friendly scheme prioritizes getting the ball to playmakers in space to prioritize yards after catch.

Eberflus hired Getsy because he believed the Green Bay Packers’ scheme — also an offshoot of the Shanahan tree — was the most difficult offense to prepare to stop. Getsy never delivered on the promise to engineer a similar…

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