The Chicago Bears are working on a deal to hire Shane Waldron as their new offensive coordinator, multiple league sources confirmed Monday morning.

Waldron has been the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator for the last three seasons and helped quarterback Geno Smith to a comeback season in 2022. Before that, Waldron spent four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams as the passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach.

He is well-respected inside league circles as a young, energetic coach on the rise and a strong teacher with a creative mind and — especially important to the Bears — three seasons of play-calling experience.

NFL Network first reported the Bears are planning to hire Waldron.

The Bears reportedly interviewed at least nine candidates for the opening, including San Francisco 49ers passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak, former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, former Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown and former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Waldron would replace Luke Getsy, whom coach Matt Eberflus fired earlier this month after two seasons at the helm of the Bears offense. In the search for Getsy’s replacement, Eberflus emphasized his desire to find a new offensive coordinator who is a “great teacher.”

“That’s important because you know he has to coach the coaches to coach the position, and I think that’s the No. 1 trait of any great coach,” Eberflus said. “You have to be able to have the innovation to really look at the players you have and be able to help enhance and put those guys in position to succeed and to get explosive (plays) and to move the ball down the field.”

Waldron would take over a Bears offense that has major decisions ahead this offseason at quarterback. General manager Ryan Poles must decide whether to use the No. 1 draft pick to select a quarterback — potentially USC’s Caleb Williams — or to stick with Justin Fields, the Bears starter for the last three seasons.

Poles said he expected to ask candidates for their plans to coach different kinds of quarterbacks.

“I love it because what are you going to do for these four different types of quarterbacks,” Poles said. “I want to hear that, and I think it’s really important to hear the versatility and adaptability in their teaching, in the way they implement a plan, scheme, adjust. It actually makes it pretty dynamic in terms of the interview process.”

Waldron called plays in 2021 for a Seahawks offense piloted by Russell Wilson. In 2022, after Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos, the Seahawks pivoted to Smith and won nine games while earning a wild-card berth.

Smith, in his 10th NFL season, was honored as the league’s Comeback Player of the Year after throwing for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns. Both marks would be single-season franchise records for the Bears.

This season the Seahawks ranked 21st in total offense (322.9 yards per game) and 14th in passing (230 ypg). They averaged 21.4 points, ranked 17th. That was down from 2022, when they averaged 351.5 yards (13th) and 23.9 points (ninth).

The Seahawks staff is looking for new jobs after the organization and coach Pete Carroll parted ways after a 14-year union.

In addition to working closely with Wilson and Smith, Waldron worked with quarterback Jared Goff for three seasons with the Rams.

Waldron served as an offensive assistant with the New England Patriots (2008-09) and Washington (2016) and worked in operations with the Patriots early in his career. He also has coached in college, high school and the UFL.

Waldron and the Bears must hire assistants to coach the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs after the team dismissed Andrew Janocko, Tyke Tolbert and Omar Young earlier this month. Offensive line coach Chris Morgan and tight ends coach Jim Dray remain on the staff.

The Bears also are seeking a defensive coordinator, and NFL Network reported Monday they will interview Tennessee Titans defensive pass game coordinator Chris Harris. Harris played safety in the NFL for eight seasons, including two stints with the Bears, and started for the 2006 Bears team that went to the Super Bowl.

More Bears news

Bears Q&A: Did GM Ryan Poles miss a chance at a big-name coach? How desirable are the coordinator openings?
Column: Keeping Jaylon Johnson is paramount for the Bears — but will they make him the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback?
5 player decisions besides QB facing the Bears, including Jaylon Johnson’s contract and Darnell Mooney’s future
Bears GM Ryan Poles staying ‘open-minded’ as he evaluates whether to keep Justin Fields or draft a QB at No. 1
Caleb Williams declares for the NFL draft — and the Bears, picking No. 1, ‘can’t be scared of the unknown,’ analyst says
Column: How can GM Ryan Poles fix the cycle that has plagued the Bears forever? Pick the right quarterback.
Bears President Kevin Warren says building a ‘magnificent’ downtown stadium remains a possibility

Bears mascot delights students in Tinley Park

A special friend stopped by last week at the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy School for Exceptional Children in Tinley Park to help everyone shake off the winter blues.

Staley Da Bear, the official team mascot for the Chicago Bears, danced his way through a crowd of cheering students and staff, exchanging high fives with a multitude of raised hands.

“You ready to have a dance party?” his handler asked above the roar. “Let’s go!”

School administrators invited Staley to stop by the school to help motivate students as they settle into the second half of the school year.

About 70 students attend the therapeutic day school, including students from Thornton Township District 205, Thornton Fractional District 215, Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202, Crete Monee District 201-U, Consolidated High School District 230 and Flossmoor District 161.

Oak Lawn library, Tinley book store reunite for RomCon

Fans of romantic literature will be swooning Feb. 17 as the Oak Lawn Public Library presents RomCon, an afternoon event dedicated to the genre. Independent bookstore Love’s Sweet Arrow, in Tinley Park, is teaming up with librarians to produce the free mini-convention featuring eight romance authors along with book signing, author panels, raffles, trivia and book sales.

Love’s Sweet Arrow owner Rosanne Backlin recruited a diverse group of authors to visit the library, including Danielle Jackson, Kelly Farmer, Tinia Montford, Tamara Jerée, Rien Gray, Hanna Earnest and Sara Fujimura. Author Olivia Dade will be doing a virtual visit to the event.

Dade, who lives in Sweden, is the author of Avon bestsellers “Ship Wrecked” (2022) and “Spoiler Alert” (2020) and she has a new novel coming out, “At First Spite” in 2024. Bettcher says,

“It’s a really big deal for us to have her participate in RomCon,” said fiction librarian Emily Bettcher.

Oak Lawn’s RomCon is from 1 to 4:15 p.m. Feb. 17 from 1-4:15 p.m. Register in advance for updates and a special treat on the day, at 708-422-4990 or cal.olpl.org/event/10993047.

Hidden Oaks Nature Center to close for most of 2024

The Forest Preserves of Will County’s Hidden Oaks Nature Center, 419 Trout Farm Road, Bolingbrook is about to be transformed, but the process will require the facility to be closed for most of the year starting Feb. 19.

FPD officials said Hidden Oaks Preserve also will close on occasion for outdoor renovations during the year, as necessary, but the renovations will not affect Hidden Lakes Trout Farm, which is in the northern part of the preserve.

The interior and exterior work at Hidden Oaks Nature Center is designed to convert the former Bolingbrook Park District site, which was purchased by the Forest Preserve in February 2022, into a nature center tailored to Forest Preserve-type exhibits and activities.

Officials said the renovation will provide new design features throughout the first floor and a new permanent live animal tank for the nature center’s resident turtles, and an elaborate indoor bird-watching lookout deck will be installed.

Oak Forest High School earns diversity award

Oak Forest High School has earned the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science A. Schools honored with the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have expanded girls’ access in AP computer science courses, according to a news release from the School District 228.

Oak Forest High School was one of 225 institutions in the country recognized in the category.

“We are so proud of the unique perspective our female students bring to the fields of Math and Science,” said Oak Forest principal Jane Dempsey. “This is a recognition of our belief that anyone can succeed in any field. Our graduates are a testament to the impact created by opening doors to women.”

Oak Forest Raiders chosen to lead Fleadh

The Oak Forest Raiders instructional tackle football and cheerleading program for boys and girls ages 5 to 14, which has been operating in the area for more than 50 years, was chosen as grand marshals for the 15th anniversary edition of the Oak Forest Fleadh.

Players, families and coaches will lead the parade, which steps off at 11 a.m. March 2 at 151st and Central Avenue and heads to the Oak Forest Park District. The parade will be preceded at 8:30 a.m. by the CNB Oak Forest Fleadh 5K race, which starts and finishes at 155th Street and Betty Anne Lane. More than 500 people are expected to participate. Activities also are planned before and after the race at Fire Station 1, 5620 Jame Drive. Street closures are planned for the race and for the parade. More information is at www.oak‐forest.org.

Visitor’s Bureau video highlights Southland attractions

The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau has launched its interactive destination video for visitors’ vacation and residents’ staycation ideas.

The video displays footage of Chicago Southland amenities with their corresponding logo and website link synced on the side of the screen. Users can also scroll through the vertical list of all amenities in descending order of appearance.

“This interactive video helps our tourists and residents peruse and visit many of Chicago Southland attractions in one source,” said Jim Garrett, president/CEO of the bureau. “The video includes nature centers, art galleries, restaurants, breweries, museums, sports facilities, golf courses, and performing arts centers to name a few.”

The CSCVB interactive video is available at www.visitchicagosouthland.com/#clicktivated.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com.

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When Chicago was selecting sites for a new casino in 2022, we endorsed the bid that would have landed the giant entertainment center on the plot of land known as The 78, the name being a concise riff on Chicago having 77 official neighborhoods.

Why? For starters, The 78, which is bordered by Roosevelt Road to the north, Clark Street to the east, 16th Street to the south, and the South Branch of the Chicago River to the west, is an enviable, shovel-ready site for development.

Its selection for the casino would not have, ahem, displaced anybody and at considerable expense. It offered river frontage, leading us to envision lovely waterfront bars and restaurants that would not attract the free-and-clear objections and lawsuits that applies to lakefront projects and that could, in essence, extend the trajectory of Chicago’s successful River Walk to the North. There is room to breathe within this 62 acres of former railroad land, now owned by developer Related Midwest, and The 78 is supremely well served by existing modes of public transportation. That would be especially the case once the long-planned new CTA station is built at 15th Street.

All of those arguments would apply just as well to a development that included a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox.

But that wasn’t the most important reason why we were, and are, so enthusiastic about The 78.

Right now, it’s a barren barrier, a dead zone undermining the potentially symbiotic relationship between Chicago’s Loop and the South Side.

If The 78 were developed, and done right, it could relink the South Loop with Chinatown and Bronzeville and could radiate economic development out from the business district to the south, filling the kind of hole that the West Loop entertainment district has plugged to the west and that the Gold Coast residential neighborhood long has provided to the North. Get rid of that no man’s land and just maybe the huge success of Millennium Park, another railroad-related project, from two decades ago could be emulated in a section of the city with a greater need.

The 78 is a huge, fallow asset and, given how well suited it is to entertainment, a casino or (better yet) a new sports stadium is what it needs. For a sense of what this could look like, all you have to do is look at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, with its lively eateries and relationship to a reignited downtown, or to the huge pedestrian area around Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas or, of course, at Wrigleyville.

Guaranteed Rate Field is, frankly, unloved and unlovely. It’s too harsh, isolated, steep, hemmed in and fan-unfriendly. The neighborhood often has been resistant when it comes to developing the surrounding parking lots into fan amenities. Despite its relative youth, it’s a relic of a time when the stadium still was just the stadium. Now, as we well know, sports teams don’t so much hope to spark development as to control (and ideally own) what goes on down the street, where fans stay, eat and play.

Unlike the NFL, which plays few games a year, Major League Baseball plays all summer long with scores of home games each season. Office workers could walk to the new stadium from the Loop, potentially a carrot when it comes to getting workers back downtown.

We understand, as tourism officials well know, that the Cubs and the Sox are very different propositions when it comes to economic development. The Cubs attract huge numbers of out-of-town fans who stay in hotels and cite Cubs games as the anchoring reason for their weekend visit. The Sox fan base is primarily local, spinning off far less secondary spending. But that does not have to remain the case. The site where the games are played is a big factor.

We’ve long been on record believing the days of handing over taxpayer funds to hugely profitable sports franchise owners should be over. We’ve said many times that the Chicago Bears, still playing the long game of chicken or persuasion or whatever, should pay for their own stadium, being a private business planning to operate in a private facility.

We feel that same way about the White Sox, although that view doesn’t preclude city and state governments from working with the team (or with the Bears, for that matter, if they’re serious about staying in Chicago) to make any move as hospitable and supportive as possible. It’s not unreasonable to chip in on infrastructure and the public areas, especially if the site also is going to include housing, parks and the like. Even Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, whose ward long has been home to the White Sox, has said she is impressed with the plan.

No doubt tax increment financing will be needed, which some would call a form of public financing. Philosophically, in terms of insisting on private investment, the devil is in the details there — TIF money can go to public improvements that arguably a private developer might otherwise shell out for. We note the current mayor’s queasiness on TIFs, given the city’s cash-strapped situation. He ought to make an exception here if the public and private interests are properly aligned. And we don’t see a big problem with basically transferring the existing 2% hotel tax to this project, since that already is dedicated to a similar use.

The fate of Guaranteed Rate Field has to be part of this discussion, of course, and it’s unlikely that site would satisfy the Bears, for most of the same reasons that the White Sox don’t want to stay, even if there were a new stadium. But an empty concrete shell by the side of the Dan Ryan Expressway would not be acceptable. Part of the package should include redevelopment plans: housing, sports facilities for the community, a stadium for the Chicago Fire if they are interested, playing fields and other benefits appropriate for a facility built with public money and owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

All of those debates are to come. But of all the sports shenanigans we’ve written about these last few years, the idea of the White Sox at The 78 is far better than most. We cannot overemphasize the strategic importance of that connective tissue from an economic development point of view.

The 78 could make the Sox, South Loop, Bronzeville and Chinatown big winners, and that’s without having to stuff a slot machine or throw a pair of dice.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

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As the 2024 St. Paul Winter Carnival comes to a close, the identities of this year’s Vulcan Krewe have been revealed.

This year’s Krewe is:

Fire King Vulcanus Rex LXXXVI, Jim Libke of St. Anthony

Duke of Klinker, Shane Geng of Cottage Grove

Count of Ashes, Tim Routa of Maplewood

General Flameous, Dave Andrews of Stillwater

Count Embrious, Dusty Carlson of Oakdale

Prince of Soot, J.D. Nystrom of St. Paul

Baron Hot Sparkus, Johnny Linden of White Bear Lake

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