Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury now enters the regular season finale among the most likely candidates to become the next head coach of the Tennessee Titans
The chatter around Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury being on the shortlist for NFL head coaching jobs in 2026 has yet to die down with one game left in the 2025 regular season.
News broke on Monday that Marcus Freeman will remain as the head coach at Notre Dame, effectively ending his role in the ongoing New York Giants' search. Kingsbury has found himself loosely tied to the vacancy, but with it being only one of two vacancies, odds now point to the Tennessee Titans as the more realistic option.
Kingsbury is tied with Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady for the fifth-lowest odds to become the next Titans' head coach, behind Chiefs coordinator Matt Nagy, Mike McCarthy, Steelers coordinator Arthur Smith and Chargers coordinator Jesse Minter.
It's not the first time Kingsbury has been linked to these reports after the former Arizona head coach drew interest after his first season with the Commanders, but he offered a different tone than the first time around.
“We'll see how that plays out, but for today, I'm just trying to get one of these quarterbacks ready on a short week," Kingsbury said ahead of the Cowboys game when asked about head coaching interest.
Kingsbury's name surrounding head coaching vacancies has only increased as the 2025 regular season neared the end.
"However, I would imagine Kingsbury will approach this offseason just as he did last year. He won’t jump to just any team. Even though the Commanders are what they are this season, they have a very good young quarterback, a solid offensive line and a front office and coaching staff he likes. That matters," The Athletic wrote earlier this month.
The Ringer also ranked Kingsbury third on their list of head coaching candidates earlier this month.
“Patrick Mahomes, Jayden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Caleb Williams. Kingsbury has played a role in the development of all those quarterbacks,” The Ringer wrote. “And in a league that’s obsessed with finding and shepherding franchise passers, that should be a compelling selling point for NFL owners. Kingsbury’s work as a play caller and offensive designer, though, may be less exciting. His results at the NFL level have been solid: Since 2019, the year Kingsbury entered the league, his combined Arizona and Washington offenses would rank ninth in the NFL in points per drive and are tied for 12th in yards per play. Kingsbury is an Air Raid coach, but it’s his run scheme—built on college-style option plays—that has done most of the heavy lifting. His rather simplistic passing scheme—which is built on quick hitters rather than explosive plays—has been inconsistent and downright disappointing at times. Kingsbury’s time as the Commanders’ offensive coordinator has mostly been a success. He eased Daniels’s transition into the league in 2024 with a deftly curated offense, and while the second-year quarterback has struggled to maintain the level of play of his rookie campaign (mostly due to injuries), Kingsbury has turned Marcus Mariota into one of the NFL’s most productive backups, proving, once again, that his work with quarterbacks cannot and should not be ignored.”
Washington is set to close out the 2025 regular season at Philadelphia in the afternoon slot next Sunday.