Ben Johnson? Todd Monken? Joe Brady? Which top offensive coordinator would make the best head coach?

The Chicago Bears are nearly through the first round of interviews in their quest to find a new head coach. They’ve interviewed at least a dozen coaching candidates since the season ended.

With a young quarterback in Caleb Williams on the roster, the narrative surrounding this team since it fired Matt Eberflus has been that the Bears need an offensive-minded head coach.

General manager Ryan Poles has made it clear that he’s open to coaches of all backgrounds, but many of the names on his lengthy list have come from the offensive side of the football.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has been linked to the Bears for months. But he’s just one of several current offensive coordinators who the Bears have interviewed or are expected to interview.

Here’s a look at four of the top OCs and what they might bring to the table.

Joe Brady, Bills offensive coordinator

Of the coaches listed here, Joe Brady has the fewest seasons under his belt as an NFL offensive coordinator. He was also fired from the job once.

Brady has essentially done the job for 3½ seasons. He served as OC for Carolina from 2020-21 before head coach Matt Rhule fired him after the 2021 season. Brady went to Buffalo to be the QBs coach for Josh Allen in 2022.

Last season, the Bills fired coordinator Ken Dorsey and promoted Brady to run the offense. The Bills turned things around and won six of their final seven games to win the AFC East. Now this season, Brady has Allen in the running for his first MVP award.

It’s worth noting, too, that Brady was the passing game coordinator at LSU in 2019 when Joe Burrow led the Tigers to the national title.

All that said, Brady is among the least-experienced coaches interviewing for head coaching jobs this year. At 35 years old, he would become the youngest head coach in the NFL.

Ben Johnson, Lions offensive coordinator

Much has been written about the Lions' rise with Johnson running the offense. Johnson is highly in demand after interviewing with the Bears, Jaguars, Raiders and Patriots (who have since hired Mike Vrabel).

Johnson said Wednesday that he feels he’s more prepared now to be a head coach than ever before. Johnson has been the belle of the ball for two years now. He interviewed for head coaching positions in each of the past two cycles.

As he noted during his media session this week, pulling his name out of the running for jobs last year gave him a chance to spend the summer thinking about how he would run a team.

Of the first-time head coaches, Johnson seems like he has potential to be a slam dunk hire.

Kliff Kingsbury, Commanders offensive coordinator

Kliff Kingsbury is the only coach on this list with head coaching experience. He went 28-37-1 as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2019-22. Kingsbury’s year away from the NFL in 2023 gave him time to collect his thoughts and figure out what he would do differently if given another opportunity.

With the way that Jayden Daniels and the Commanders' offense has played this season, it feels like Kingsbury could have that chance soon.

Kingsbury has worked with a number of really good quarterbacks both as a college coach and an NFL coach: Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray. He spent the 2023 season with Williams at USC as an offensive analyst.

The prior relationship with Williams could give Kingsbury an edge in Chicago.

Todd Monken, Ravens offensive coordinator

Todd Monken comes from a football family. He grew up in Wheaton and played D-III football at Knox College in Galesburg. His father, Bob Monken, served as the varsity high school coach at Lake Park for 30 years. Two of Todd’s brothers are high school coaches in the area. His cousin Jeff Monken is the head coach at Army.

Todd Monken has done just about everything a football coach can do. He’s been a defensive backs coach, a receivers coach and a QBs coach. He was a college head coach at Southern Miss for three seasons (2013-15) and an NFL offensive coordinator at various times (Tampa Bay from 2016-18; Cleveland in 2019; Baltimore from 2023-24). He won two national championships as the OC for Georgia from 2020-22.

In Baltimore, he revived a Ravens offense that had grown stale under former coordinator Greg Roman. Quarterback Lamar Jackson won his second MVP last year with Monken running the offense, and he’s in the running for another in 2024.

Monken’s Illinois ties and his wide-ranging experiences in coaching make him an interesting candidate.