Report: Kliff Kingsbury ‘Not A Slam Dunk’ to Take HC Job After Jayden Daniels Success

Despite generating some interest, Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury reportedly isn’t guaranteed to jump at a head coaching opportunity if offered one.

According to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin (h/t ESPN’s John Keim), the Chicago Bears want to talk to Kingsbury about their head coaching vacancy following the firing of Matt Eberflus back in November.

Despite that, team sources in Washington are saying that “it’s not a slam dunk” Kingsbury will leave to become a head coach, especially given how much success he and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels have had together this season.

In his first season as the OC in Washington, Kingsbury helped guide Daniels to one of the greatest seasons by a rookie quarterback in NFL history.

The No. 2 overall draft pick and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner out of LSU completed 69.0 percent of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while also rushing for 891 yards and six scores en route to the Pro Bowl and likely the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award.

With Daniels at the helm, the Commanders went 12-5, which was their winningest season since 1991, and marked their first playoff appearance since 2020.

Kingsbury was previously the head coach at Texas Tech from 2013 to 2018 and then the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2019 to 2022.

He went just 35-40 while guiding the Red Raiders and 28-37-1 in Arizona, although he did lead the Cards to a playoff appearance in 2021.

After a one-year stint as a senior offensive analyst at USC, Kingsbury returned to the NFL ranks this season to serve as the OC under Commanders head coach Dan Quinn.

Kingsbury has quickly rebuilt his stock to the point that he is already a viable head coaching candidate again, but per Keim, Kingsbury made it clear last month that he wasn’t necessarily looking to jump right back into a head coaching job.

“I didn’t get into this to be a head coach again,” Kingsbury said. “It’s not about money. It never has been about money. So, that won’t move me at all. It’s just I want to do the best job we can here for those guys and then kind of go from there.”

Given that Kingsbury can likely become an even hotter head coaching commodity with another year as Daniels’ OC, he has the luxury of picking and choosing where he wants to go.

In one respect, Chicago would be a difficult job since the Bears are coming off a 5-12 season, haven’t reached the playoffs since 2020 and play in a division in which the other three teams all made the playoffs this season.

However, Kingsbury already has experience coaching Bears quarterback Caleb Williams during their time together at USC, so it stands to reason that he could have at least some interest in reuniting with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

For now, Kingsbury is focused on the task at hand, which is the Commanders’ road playoff game against the NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night.