Chicago Bears Head Coaching Candidate: Drew Petzing |
We are not even a week into the offseason for the Chicago Bears, and their head coaching search keeps getting bigger. It's almost to the point where the Bears are trying to add as many names as possible to the interview process to have multiple backup plans should their first set of plans not work.
It seems unlikely that every candidate will get an in-person interview, but at the very least, it's a good thing to see this team keeping their options open and looking at a plethora of candidates to take over this franchise. Before the new names were added, an initial list of 17 candidates was expected to interview for the Bears. Ben Johnson and several other young and promising offensive-minded head coaches were at the top of that list. Drew Petzing was another one of those offensive minds expected to be interviewed, and now that the Bears have requested to interview him, it's only a matter of time before he arrives at Halas Hall to prove himself to the organization. The 37-year-old Petzing has been around the coaching world since 2009, when he started as a graduate assistant at Harvard University. From there, he moved on to Boston College in 2010 for the next two seasons before landing at Yale as the Outside Linebackers coach in 2012. He was one of the fastest-rising defensive coaches in the country. Petzing came to the NFL in 2013, and instead of being the defensive coach he was in college, he converted to the offensive side of the ball, which shows his versatility on the coaching staff. After spending 2013 with the Cleveland Browns as an intern, he latched on with Mike Zimmer and the Minnesota Vikings before the 2014 season and spent the next six seasons with the Purple and Gold. During those years, he worked as a wide receiver Coach, assistant quarterback Coach, and offensive assistant, gaining experience in different aspects of the coaching world. Following his time with the Vikings, Petzing returned to the Cleveland Browns to join his colleague from Minnesota, Kevin Stefanski. He spent the next two seasons as the TE coach before taking over the quarterback coaching role in 2022. Those positions are often overlooked on an offensive staff, but when you look at how much the Browns quarterbacks have struggled since he left the organization following the 2022 season, maybe he knew a few things about coaching up quarterbacks. That could come in handy when working with Caleb Williams, as he is not only a young quarterback but one of the best young quarterbacks in the game and someone who will be looking to take the league by storm. The Bears will interview Petzing because he fits one of the two categories they are looking for in a head coach: an offensive-minded head coach. Based on his NFL track record as a coach, you can see that, but the last two years have firmly cemented him as one of the top assistants. When Jonathan Gannon took over the Arizona Cardinals before the 2023 season, he was looking for a young coaching staff and one with a great offensive mind. That is where Petzing comes into play. He was appointed the Cardinals' offensive coordinator and has since shown up in a big way. Although the team has struggled overall, 2024 was a season of growth for not only the Cardinals organization but the entire offensive side of the ball, and that is a credit to Petzing and what he preaches to his group. Despite missing the playoffs again, Petzing had his offense as a borderline top-10 unit as they finished the season 12th in points per game and 11th in yardage. He did that with a young quarterback, Kyler Murray, and an offensive unit filled with young and talented players such as Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBridge. Working with young quarterbacks isn't an issue for Petzing, but one thing the Bears had that the Cardinals didn't was more proven offensive players across the board. If he did what he was able to do in Arizona, knowing the quality of talent they had, it would be interesting to see what he could do with Chicago's talent. Given that he only has two years of play-calling experience, it may be early to give him the keys to any franchise, but you can see why the Bears and other teams are interested, given how much the unit improved last season.
