Bears set to interview offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree |
Every hire from here on out is going to be considered a massive hire, but the offensive coordinator role is the most significant hire that Ben Johnson will make. This team has struggled offensively for years, and when you go through three offensive coordinators in a four-year stretch, it doesn't make things easier.
Even if Johnson is expected to call the plays, which it seems that will be the case, his goal is to bring in an experienced offensive coordinator who has previous play-calling experience in the past. You have to wonder if the recently fired Bobby Slowik is one of those guys, as he was not only a candidate to be the Bears offensive coordinator two years ago but was also a head coaching candidate this season. Clearly, the Bears have liked Slowik for a while, so it will be interesting to see if the Bears will give him a look again. However, according to reports, the Bears have officially scheduled their first interview for offensive coordinator, which comes from a surprising name in Bo Hardegree. Initially, it looked as if the Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley would be the team's next Offensive Coordinator, only to remain in Detroit for the time being. Sure, there is a chance he may rethink that, but the Bears can't wait around too long and will now be interviewing several candidates. Hardegree is the first of those candidates to be interviewed after having a previous connection to Johnson with the Miami Dolphins. For those unfamiliar with Hardegree, he was the quarterbacks coach for the Tennessee Titans last season, and that alone has to be concerning when you look at how Will Levis played. Sure, a lot of that was on Levis himself, but this is another guy with limited play-calling experience, and that was something that the Bears were trying to find with any of their applicants. Even if he struggled with the Titans last season, this league is all about connections, and his connection with Johnson can't be ignored. If Johnson didn't have the confidence that he could do this job, there would be no interview taking place, so at the very least, the organization will have to trust him at his word on this one. Through the early stages of his hiring process, Johnson is trying to put together a diverse staff, which is filled with people he has worked with in the past. You saw that with his three hires on Friday, and this could be another situation like that. Adding as many coaches as possible that you have a connection with isn't a bad idea, as that can lead to a healthy working relationship. Working with QBs is nothing new for Hardegree, as most of his previous stops had him as a Quarterbacks coach. Some of the results were better than others, but you also have to consider the quarterbacks he worked with. Before his time with the Titans, Hardegree worked with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 and 2023, the New England Patriots in 2021, the New York Jets in 2019-2020, and the Dolphins in 2016-18. It's his time with the Dolphins where a connection to Johnson comes into play as he saw something from their time together. While most of these stops saw him as the quarterbacks coach or an offensive assistant, his time with the Raiders stands out as he also served as the interim Offensive Coordinator. Even if the results weren't always great that season, Hardegree was working with a rookie quarterback along with a struggling Jimmy Garroppolo, so there wasn't much talent in the quarterback room that season. Struggles aside, he still has play-calling experience under his belt, and although minimal, it's still more experience than what some of these candidates can say. Given the quarterback play the Raiders had, no one would've been surprised to see them finish in last place. Instead, the Raiders wound up with a winning record, which shows he must've been doing something right. Coming to Chicago would be a massive opportunity for Hardegree as he will be given the best quarterback he has ever worked with. Not only that, he will inherit an offense loaded with weapons across the board and looking for the coach to take them to the next level. Johnson is that guy, so pairing up with the offensive mastermind he is could be a win-win situation for both sides.
