NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears’ search for their next offensive coordinator continued over the weekend with an interview request set up for University of Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
Coen joins Shane Waldron, Klint Kubiak, and Greg Olson as known candidates for the job opening in Chicago. Like Waldron, Coen also has work experience with the Los Angeles Rams under Head Coach Sean McVay. Coen was the OC in Los Angeles under McVay in 2022. (Luis: It makes you wonder if there is a theme developing here…)
Who is Liam Coen?
While head coach Sean McVay’s future in Los Angeles was in question last year, offensive coordinator Liam Coen accepted the same job with Kentucky amid the uncertainty.
Coen was named the Rams’ offensive coordinator on March 2, 2022, after leading Kentucky’s offense in 2021. The Wildcats were ranked fifth in the SEC in scoring offense (32.3 points per game) under Coen and eighth in total offense (452.2 yards per game). After just one season as the offensive coordinator in Los Angeles, Coen returned to Kentucky to serve as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
That wasn’t the first time Coen had left the Rams for Kentucky. Before leading Will Levis and the Kentucky offense in 2021, Coen spent three years on the Rams staff as an assistant wide receivers coach in 2018 and 2019 before taking on assistant quarterbacks coach in 2020, when he helped Jared Goff post his fourth-consecutive season with 3,800 or more passing yards. In 2019, Cooper Kupp logged his first 1,000-yard season under Coen, finishing with 1,161, and Robert Woods logged 1,134.
Relevant Experience
Potential Fit
In his second stint at Kentucky, Liam Coen led an offense that showed improvements in various metrics during the 2023 season. The team ranked 23rd in red zone touchdown percentage, 40th in yards per play, and 51st in points per drive. Despite some efficiency challenges, the offense demonstrated strong explosive play capability.
Between his two Kentucky stints, Coen served as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams during the 2022 season. The Rams faced challenges during a Super Bowl hangover year, ranking bottom-five in various offensive categories, including total yards, where they finished last with 280.5 yards per game.
My Two Cents
Personally, this one doesn’t excite me a whole lot. Coen has a limited history of calling plays, unlike the previous two names connected to the Bears (Waldron and Kubiak), and the Rams offense wasn’t all that great in his lone season as an NFL play-caller.
Coen has spent plenty of time with Sean McVay, and I think that’s his strongest “pro” to this point. But simply picking from the McVay tree doesn’t cut it for me. It’s a nice piece of the puzzle, but Coen’s resume, outside of his time with McVay, doesn’t have the experience that I want to see in the next Bears offensive coordinator.
But that doesn’t mean that he can’t be the guy.
Will Levis was terrific under Coen in 2021 and did see a slight down-tick in his yardage and touchdowns in 2022 after Coen departed Kentucky to take the Rams OC job. Kentucky QB Devin Leary threw for 2,746 yards with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for the Wildcats this season under Coen’s play-calling and tutelage.
I didn’t watch a single Kentucky Wildcats football game this season, but everything I can find regarding their offense has a similar sentiment that the unit underperformed and played slowly under Liam Coen this season.
