Bear Digest

What Do Players Want in New Bears Coach? You Might Be Surprised

Do the Bears necessarily think their next head coach has to be an offensive side guy? Or are they in favor of the so-called "leader of men?"

Gene Chamberlain

Former Bears coach Matt Nagy greets Mike Vrabel before a Bears-Titans game. Is Vrabel the leader of men the Bears covet?
Former Bears coach Matt Nagy greets Mike Vrabel before a Bears-Titans game. Is Vrabel the leader of men the Bears covet? / George Walker IV / Tennessean.com, Nashville Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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It's a small sample size to be sure.

Yet, Bears slot cornerback Kyler Gordon and tight end Cole Kmet are not putting their stamp of approval down on hiring the hottest offensive coordinator for the head coach position even after they just lost 6-3 Thursday to Seattle.

In fact, people who favor Mike Vrabel as a Bears hire might like what Gordon had to say about the type of coach they need, and what Kmet said didn't exactly counter this even though he is on the offensive side of the ball.

"For me what I would say is I had to say anything just come in here and enforce discipline," Gordon said. "That's it. Just be strict, you know.

"I want you to be a player's coach, obviously for the players, but just come in and be strict. Discipline. Just with passion and love that's it really. That's all I would say."

It's an accountability thing to Gordon when he talks about discipline. This was an issue earlier in the year, especially when the discussion came up about a penalty for cornerback Tyrique Stevenson after the Hail Mary pass.

"Yeah, I would say just knowing that for you individually that everyone can hold you accountable knowing that you're going to do your job," Gordon said. "That we can depend on you, and I feel like that starts with discipline, knowing that if you're disciplined the right way, the whole entire team is disciplined the right way, that there is no other choice but for you to do the right thing every single time.

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"There is no second-guessing or nothing like that. This is the way we do it. This our style and there is no, like, in between and no grey area. That's how I would say it."

This sounds an awful lot like the way those around Vrabel described his approach and the way he relates with players.

The talk about Ben Johnson and Kliff Kingsbury, even Joe Brady and Liam Coen being potential hires sounds exactly like what the Bears need to win with Caleb Williams at quarterback. There are other considerations, says Kmet.

It's not just go out and hire offense.

"No, I think with my time in the league I've realized—not that that doesn’t matter—but I think it is more important that the head coach is the head coach," Kmet said. "I was talking to somebody about it the other day.

"It's funny how things work in terms of how you get hired and everything. Like, you know, if you’re really good at sales, you become the manager. But like being a salesman, it’s not the same job as the manager. Does that make sense? Sure, with how the league works, usually if you’re a good play caller on one side or the other you get your opportunity of becoming a head coach, but the responsibilities of the head coach are just so vastly different than from being a play caller."

Kmet called it critical that the new coach be able to get his message out to everyone.

"There are aspects of having to talk to the whole team, not just to one side of the ball, having to reach out to the other aisle and being able to talk their language as well too," he said. "Being able to work with the special teams coordinator, being able to work with you (media) guys, being kind of the political figure of the organization.

"There's the aspect of having to talk to ownership, the GM. There's the aspect of then actually having to call the plays. Like, there's a lot to it. And then game-managing. It is interesting in terms of how you rise through the ranks in the league, and that's just how it works. But at the end of the day, we just hope and I just hope that they get the right guy to be head coach, whether that be offense or defense."

Some potential candidates on both side of the ball have experience as a head coach. Johnson is not one of those. Both Kingsbury and Vrabel have. So has Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who also has a connection of sorts because team president Kevin Warren worked with the Vikings and has plenty of connections there.

"There obviously are people who have track records," Kmet said. "I'm not going to be one to speak for like how that translates here or how that works.

"But I’m sure they’re looking into all of that."

Bears wide receiver DJ Moore might have had the right idea with the compromise: Someone on offense who is a leader.

"It'd be great to have both in one, but you've got to get a good leader in here, and then the leader, like the head coach, has got to have like the offensive mind, and then have the genius offensive coordinator right beside him," Moore said

Good luck finding this.

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.