Bear Digest

Realistic Options for Bears Coach Must Keep Caleb Williams in Mind

Analysis: Suggestions the Bears should trade for a head coach or find one from the defensive side need to be made with Caleb Williams' development in mind.

Gene Chamberlain

Brian Flores directs the Vikings defense in a game earlier this season.
Brian Flores directs the Vikings defense in a game earlier this season. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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A suggestion made by Mike Florio about the Bears trading for 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is merely an attempt to ignite a rumor at this point.

It succeeded in gaining attention and nothing else.

The Bears are so far away from doing anything regarding the head coaching position at the moment, merely formulating their list of potentials in case Thomas Brown doesn't work out.

However, trading for a head coach from another team seems like one of the most absurd ideas possible.

If the 49ers are tired of Shanahan, then why should the Bears give up draft picks for him? They should just wait and sign him when he's fired and keep their picks to reinforce their offensive and defensive lines, which are still sadly lacking.

If he's not available he's not available.

Shanahan is a good coach or the 49ers wouldn't have been in the Super Bowl twice and close to winning twice, with two quarterbacks lacking top pedigree. That's actually good coaching to accomplish what Shanahan has.

If 49ers fans want to experience what else is out there for them in terms of head coaches, Matt Eberflus is available. Matt Nagy probably would love the chance to coach the 49ers, too. Marc Trestman can be had for a price. And surely John Fox would come out of retirement for a price or might not need to do that. He was both a coach and acting like he was retired in Chicago.

There are always these hair-brained trade schemes brought up at this time of year when coaches get fired in-season. They were calling for Bill Belichick to be sent to Washington last year, but Belichick was available anyway and didn't get hired.

Not all the head coaching candidates being suggested for the Bears are ideas as unlikely as Shanahan.

In an appearance on Dave Kaplan's ESPN AM-1000 show, SI.com's Albert Breer pointed to Brian Flores as a potential Bears candidate, while colleague Conor Orr puts Flores No. 2 just behind Ben Johnson as the best candidate for the job.

To be sure, Flores was given consideration for head coach when the Bears last had an opening but it was well before Poles was even hired. George McCaskey, Bill Polian, Ted Phillips and the Gang of Five didn't have Flores on the three-man finalist list for Poles to consider once they hired their GM. 

At the time, Flores was a much more controversial figure because of lawsuits against the league and the way his time as Dolphins head coach ended.

The main reason Poles would be linked to Flores is the fact they were college teammates, which would be a huge benefit considering the Bears GM looked Monday like someone who could use some friends with the team at the moment, as Kevin Warren is currently exerting his influence as Halas Hall's key power broker.

Ultimately, the Bears have to be thinking about a combination that best allows them to maximize the potential of QB Caleb Williams when they hire their head coach.

Flores and Tua Tagovailoa didn't exactly see eye to eye in Miami. In an interview on the Dan Le Batard Show, Tagovailoa made this clear this past summer when comparing his time under Flores to Mike McDaniel.

"If you woke up every morning and I told you you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, 'Dude, you are the best fit for this,'" Tagovailoa said, "how would it make you feel listening to one or the other?"

Flores hit back at the notion he can't handle relationships with players.

"I think part of coaching is correcting," Flores said. "I'm always going to correct. I'm always going to have a high standard.

"And I think, look, I've done a lot of reflecting on the situation, reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there's things that I could do better for sure, and I've grown in that way, and I've tried to apply the things that I could do better and the things that I've learned over the last two, three years."

Definitely, Flores has been effective with his defense this year and in other years as either defensive coordinator with Minnesota or as Miami's head coach.

Is he the best person to hand the project of overseeing development of a rookie first overall pick like Caleb Williams?

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Probably not, but then again if he had an offensive coordinator handling that end of it who was comfortable or trusted by both Flores and Williams, then maybe it's a different situation.

The chances of this? While at Miami, Flores had in three years Jim Caldwell, Chad O'Shea, Chan Gailey and the tag team of George Godsey/Eric Studesville as offensive coordinators. That's even more than Matt Eberflus went through.

Current Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell defends Flores though.

It would seem the risk element is greater but it's not as unlikely to produce success as some of the other defensive-side head coaches being suggested for the Bears, like chiefly 72-year-old Bill Belichick.

Belichick's last experience with a young quarterback didn't exactly go well and Williams would be better off tied to a younger head coaching candidate and probably from the offensive side of the ball.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.