The Bears on Saturday interviewed Monti Ossenfort for their general manager position and Jim Caldwell and Nathaniel Hackett for their head-coaching job.
Ossenfort boasts 21 years of NFL experience, including the last two as Titans director of player personnel. Prior to that, he spent 17 seasons with the Patriots from 2003-19, including the last six years of his tenure as New England's director of college scouting.
Ossenfort entered the NFL in 2001 with the Vikings as a training camp intern and then worked as a scouting intern with the Texans in 2002. He joined the Patriots in 2003 initially as a personnel assistant and won three Super Bowl rings during his time in New England.
As a player, Ossenfort was a four-year letterman and two-year starting quarterback at the University of Minnesota-Morris from 1996-99, graduating from the school in 2000. He later earned two master's degrees in business administration and sports management from Ohio University.
Caldwell has 19 years of NFL coaching experience, including seven as a head coach with the Colts (2009-11) and Lions (2014-17). He compiled a 62-50 regular-season record, 26-22 with Indianapolis and 36-28 with Detroit. In addition, he is 2-4 all-time in the playoffs, 2-2 with the Colts and 0-2 with the Lions.
Caldwell led Indianapolis to back-to-back AFC South Division championships in his first two seasons. He later guided Detroit to three winning campaigns in four years, equaling the number of winning seasons the Lions had in the 18 years before his arrival (1996-2013) combined with the four seasons since his departure (2018-21).
Caldwell began his NFL coaching career in 2001 with the Buccaneers as quarterbacks coach on Tony Dungy's staff. He followed Dungy to Indianapolis in 2002, serving as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach from 2002-08 before succeeding the retiring Dungy as head coach.
After leaving the Colts, Caldwell joined the Ravens, serving as quarterbacks coach and interim offensive coordinator in 2012 and offensive coordinator in 2013. Caldwell spent the next four seasons as Lions head coach before working with the Dolphins as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach in 2019.
Caldwell has won two Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach, with the Colts to cap the 2006 season and with the Ravens to conclude the 2012 campaign.
Prior to joining the NFL, Caldwell spent 24 seasons as a college coach, working at Iowa as a graduate assistant (1977), Southern Illinois as receivers coach (1978-80), Northwestern as an offensive assistant (1981), Colorado as receivers coach (1982-84), Louisville as receivers coach (1985), Penn State as quarterbacks coach (1986-92) and Wake Forest as head coach (1993-2000).
As a player, Caldwell was a four-year starting defensive back at Iowa from 1973-76.
Hackett is in his third season as Packers offensive coordinator. He previously served in the same capacity with the Bills (2013-14) and Jaguars (2016-18).
In 2020, Hackett helped Green Bay rank No. 1 in the NFL in scoring (31.8 points per game) behind quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was named league MVP after passing for 4,299 yards with 48 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Packers became just the third team in NFL history to record at least 500 points with 11 or fewer turnovers. In 2021, Hackett helped the Packers win their third straight NFC North title.
Hackett entered the NFL with the Buccaneers as an offensive quality control coach in 2006-07 before serving in the same role with the Bills in 2008-09.
Hackett then continued his career at Syracuse, working with quarterbacks, tight ends and the passing game in 2010 before serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks and tight ends coach in 2011-12.
As a player, Hackett was a four-year letterman at the University of California-Davis, where he played linebacker and served as the team's long-snapper from 1999-2002.
His father, Paul Hackett, coached 42 seasons at the college and pro levels from 1969-2010. He was head coach at the University of Pittsburgh (1989-92) and USC (1998-2000) and offensive coordinator for the Chiefs (1993-97) and Jets (2001-04).
The Bears have now interviewed five candidates for the general manager position and four for the head-coaching job in the last four days:
Wednesday
Glenn Cook (GM)
Doug Pederson (HC)
Thursday
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (GM)
Champ Kelly (GM)
Friday
Jeff Ireland (GM)
Brian Flores (HC)
Saturday
Monti Ossenfort (GM)
Jim Caldwell (HC)
Nathaniel Hackett (HC)
