Last month, the Chicago Bears fired Shane Waldron. They had never fired an offensive coordinator during the season.
The day after Thanksgiving, they fired Matt Eberflus, the first head coach fired in the middle of a season in the franchise’s 105-year history.
The decisions may have been obvious, so we don’t need to necessarily credit the unprecedented nature of them as some systemic shift in the organization. But maybe it can be a sign of what’s to come in this head-coaching search.
“To go where you haven’t been, you have to do something you’ve never done,” former Bears Pro Bowler Kyle Long posted to social media minutes after Eberflus was fired.
“It’s whatever you think it’s supposed to mean for the next regime,” Long said when I asked him this week.
Anyone can take the quote in whichever direction they want. For this exercise, it inspired a few head-coaching candidates or hiring strategies that haven’t been typical for the Bears under chairman George McCaskey.
“This is the Chicago Bears,” one league source said. “They should be able to go get the coach they want.”
President/CEO Kevin Warren listed what they’ll look for in a head coach.
“We need an individual who has extremely high standards, who is tough, who is demanding, who is bright, who has attention to detail, who seeks and will win championships, who creates an environment of accountability, who’s creative, who’s intelligent, who’s a decisive decision-maker and who will represent the city of Chicago, all of our fans, this franchise, in a manner that is well-deserved,” he said.
No matter whom the Bears hire, they’ll say that the coach embodies all of that. It’s like when a team is thrilled that a prospect was available to be drafted. But we can still use it as a guide for the next couple of months, and wonder if Warren’s role can allow the franchise to aim higher.
What’s the next thing the Bears could do that they’ve never done?
1. Hire the greatest coach of all time
The first call should be to Bill Belichick. We can sit here and quibble about his record after Tom Brady left or the Mac Jones era or the Patriots roster he left Jerod Mayo, but we can’t quibble with the Super Bowl rings.
At 72, Belichick probably isn’t looking for a rebuilding project. Maybe he likes what he’s seen from Caleb Williams and has a positive evaluation of the Bears defense. He’s been public about the team’s inability to build up the trenches, so we know he would prioritize that.
Yes, Belichick comes with a ton of question marks, starting with the power he would want and how that would mesh with the current setup (more on that in a bit). But no one honors the league’s history like Belichick. He passed George Halas on the all-time wins list (playoffs included). Wouldn’t he love to be coaching Halas’ Bears when he passes Don Shula?
2. Hire a coach who requires a change at GM
Belichick would handle personnel. A change would have to be made with Ryan Poles, whom Warren said would remain the team’s general manager. Poles is close with Scott Pioli, who worked with Belichick — maybe that would create an opportunity for Poles and Belichick to coexist in Halas Hall.
Mike Vrabel, who might be one of the most sought-after coaching candidates, could also create an awkward situation with a current GM. Would Vrabel want personnel control or to pick his own evaluator to handle it?
The same question could be asked if the Bears called Pete Carroll. Yes, he’s 73, but he won a Super Bowl and went to the playoffs 10 times with the Seahawks — in the same span, the Bears went to the postseason three times.
Under McCaskey, this would be a complete shift if they hired a coach who required more power in shaping the roster and the building. Warren would have tough decisions on his hands regarding Poles.
3. Hire the most coveted (and expensive) coordinator
In the previous four hiring cycles, the Bears haven’t always gotten the “hottest” coach available.
In 2013, Phil Emery interviewed 13 candidates before choosing Marc Trestman, then the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes. One of the head-coaching candidates? Bruce Arians.
A coach who wasn’t a finalist but got hired in 2013? Andy Reid.
In 2015, before John Fox became available, Ryan Pace interviewed Dan Quinn and Todd Bowles. Quinn went on to take the Falcons to the Super Bowl in his second season. Bowles went 10-6 as the Jets’ head coach in 2016.
In 2018, Matt Nagy certainly wasn’t the splashiest hire — that was Jon Gruden with the Raiders. Vrabel was hired by the Titans in the same cycle.
And then in 2022, it’s unlikely that Eberflus was the most coveted (and expensive) candidate of those interviewed, which included Quinn, Brian Daboll, Doug Pederson and Brian Flores.
Ironically, Fox might have been the top guy in 2015, and Nagy’s hiring was pretty respected in 2018, but when did the Bears hire “the” guy? If Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson proves to be the consensus top candidate among assistants — acknowledging the subjectivity of all this — would the Bears ever be the team to land someone like him, especially if he’s going to cost the most?
4. Hire the interim
The Bears have never had an interim head coach before, except in 1942 when Halas was in the Navy during World War II and Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos co-coached the team.
This option isn’t as splashy as the others, and it might not be the most appealing considering potential candidates with more experience, but it’s another route that the Bears have never considered — in part because they’ve never had to. If Williams is thriving, the wins come, and the locker room has rallied around Thomas Brown, and if he displays the leadership traits and game management skills to continue at that post, it’s worth considering, even if he wasn’t Warren’s guy or Poles’ guy.
There’s a reason Brown got the interim tag. There’s a reason he’s been interviewed for head-coaching positions and offensive coordinator roles. The Bears have gotten a closer look at him over the past three weeks, and these next five games could tell them that he’s the guy. If that’s the case, they shouldn’t be afraid simply because interims haven’t been successful elsewhere.
5. Trade for a coach
“It might not be the one they think is the ‘best available,’” the league source said. “Go get your guy.”
The ultra-aggressive and franchise-altering decision to trade for a coach is completely antithetical to everything we know about the Bears. But usually, when there’s a coaching change at Halas Hall, the roster doesn’t look like this.
Pace stripped things down in 2015 as Poles did in 2022. There were a few pieces on defense in 2018, and then an aggressive free-agency period and the trade for Khalil Mack put that roster into the playoffs.
This team, as bad as the losing streak is, has lost on the final play to three of the best teams in the league, and another to a team on the cusp of the playoffs in Washington. On a night when their offense was awful, the Bears had the ball down a score with a chance in Houston.
They should be right there. This is a unique opportunity for someone who can take advantage of the salary-cap situation and extra draft picks to compete right away.
Why not call around to see if any owner is interested in talking about a trade? Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio suggested Kyle Shanahan in an interview on 670 the Score. Heck, what about Sean McVay? Maybe he’s ready for a new challenge. A coach has to agree to a trade, adding to the complexity of it, and any of these phone calls could last less than a minute.
But these are the Chicago Bears, a team stuck in mediocrity and cycling through coaches despite what they believe the franchise stands for. With Williams entering Year 2, there’s a great opportunity here. They should take a big swing and go somewhere they’ve never gone.
(Top photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
