Bears continue to interview OC candidates |
After two relatively quiet days on the Chicago Bears news front, things are picking up again as the Bears continue doing their homework for their next OC. It was reported that this team is looking to add someone from either Sean McVay or Kyle Shannahan tree, and judging by most of the interviews thus far, that is the case.
Thursday saw the Bears bring in another person of interest for the OC job, and low and behold; he is from the McVay tree. A name that not many people expected to garner an interview has been highly coveted by this Bears team as Zac Robinson has reportedly interviewed at Halas Hall. A former stud QB at Oklahoma State, Robinson only had a little success as a player in the NFL after being drafted in the seventh round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
He went on to spend four seasons in the league as a backup before hanging up the cleats for the clipboard and headset. After retiring from the NFL in 2013 took him six seasons to return as McVay brought him in for the 2019 season as the Assistant QB coach. He moved into the assistant WR coach role in 2020 before returning to his original position in 2021.
However, it was in 2022 when Robinson saw his first significant promotion as he took over the QB role along with the Pass Game Coordinator role the past two seasons. Although it hasn't looked pretty at times, Matthew Stafford was hurt a ton in 2022, but bounced back to have an excellent season in 2023. Robinson deserves a ton of credit for that, as he helps maximize the McVay offense to its best.
Remember, the last two Pass game Coordinators have moved on as Kevin O'Connell (2020) and Wes Phillips (2021) left for Minnesota. Robinson was chosen to take over that vacant role that Phillips left behind mainly because of the job he did with the QBs in practice. The Bears have a type they are looking for, and with Robinson coming from the McVay tree, he does fall into the type they are looking to find.
One thing that could knock him down a peg regarding the search is that he hasn't had any play-calling experience up to this point, making him the least qualified candidate of the bunch. That isn't ideal for a team looking to transform their offense, but it shouldn't be the end of the road. If Robinson can prove he knows what it takes to be a playcaller in this league, the Bears need to do the right thing and give him the same opportunity they gave everyone else in the interview process.
Another interesting piece worth noting when it comes to Robinson is what he did before landing with the Rams, as he was a former employee for Pro Football Focus. That means he was part of the analytics side of the game at a much deeper level than most, which continues to be a massive part of today's game. The Pro Football Focus path worked well for current Houston Offensive Coordinator Bobby Slowik, so Robinson could follow in his footsteps and have the same success.
With every coordinator added to this list, fans are starting to wonder if too many candidates are being pursued. However, when you consider that Luke Getsy and Pep Hamilton were the only candidates interviewed last time, this is more of going through a thorough process than interviewing too many people.
The Bears offense has the talent at the skill positions to be great, but for whatever reason, Getsy failed to use the strengths of the offense to his advantage. Whoever the Bears bring in this time will have to get creative and use their brain for things to be different. Slowik has shown he knows what he is doing, so maybe working for PFF has something to do with it.
It is unclear whether or not the Bears will add any more names to the list, but I expect them to start narrowing down some of these for secondary interviews. Once that happens, fans will finally see the Bears' plan, as the pieces will fall into place for what this offense can become.
