Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has fired two offensive coordinators in less than 11 months and if the team stumbles down the stretch, he could be the next to go.
Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN examined a handful of topics around the NFL on Wednesday, November 13, creating a through line on coaching trends that connect a potential Eberflus departure from the Windy City to the arrival of one of the most exciting names in college football at Halas Hall next spring.
“I think there’s a feeling around the league the Bears probably will be looking for a new coach in the offseason, and that their targets will be QB-centric guys,” Graziano wrote. “Looking at the rest of the division, Bears ownership sees young star coaches in Minnesota and Green Bay and the ultimate culture-building coach in Detroit. So it is probably going to want to make a dynamic and exciting hire — especially one who maximizes their investment in Williams.”
Later, in a general notes section, Fowler mentioned Oregon head coach Dan Lanning as an exception to what has seemingly emerged as a new rule pertaining to head coaching hires around the league.
“The once-popular trend of plucking college head coaches for NFL jobs has slowed in recent years. … Recent NFL failures of Urban Meyer and Matt Rhule haven’t helped the collegiate pipeline. But a league exec I trust brought up an interesting name to me this week: Oregon’s Dan Lanning,” Fowler wrote, noting the executive compared Lanning to Dan Campbell of the Lions. “While Campbell is in his own class right now, Lanning knows how to command a room, and the Ducks are 32-5 since he took over.”
Dan Lanning Among Best Coaches in FBS Over Past Several Years
GettyHead coach Dan Lanning of the Oregon Ducks.
Lanning has a strong history in the collegiate ranks after beginning his career as a graduate assistant with Pittsburgh in 2011.
He had a stop at Alabama in 2015 on his way to becoming the linebackers coach at Georgia in 2018. He served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator from 2019-21, winning a National Championship in that position during his final SEC campaign.
Lanning took over at Oregon in 2022 and has logged double-digit victories each year. The Ducks are 10-0 this season and currently ranked No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Polls, as well as No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Dan Lanning Has History of QB Success at Oregon
GettyHead Coach Dan Lanning of the Oregon Ducks and former quarterback Bo Nix.
As a defensive mind, Lanning breaks from Graziano’s notion that Chicago is likely to look for a QB whisperer of sorts, perhaps someone like Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who has been linked to the Bears in rumors previously circulated this season.
However, Lanning did coach Bo Nix last year, who landed with the Denver Broncos in 2024 and has made more strides there between Weeks 1-10 than Caleb Williams has made under Eberflus in Chicago.
Lanning is also finding incredible success this season with Dillon Gabriel, another experienced collegiate player like Nix, who has produced 2,848 passing yards to go along with 22 TDs against just 5 INTs across Oregon’s 10-0 start.
Also like Nix, Gabriel is on track to wind up a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, which would make him the second quarterback in a row to do so while playing for the defensive-minded Lanning.
Lanning could make sense in Chicago if he brings along a highly-regarded offensive mind to run that side of the football and help develop Williams into the No. 1 pick the Bears front office believed him to be in April.
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