Bear Digest

When to Expect Bears Coaching Pursuit and Rules Governing It

It's the NFL and there are rules for everything, so here's when to expect the Bears coaching process to begin and possibly end.

Gene Chamberlain

Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, an advisor at USC last year while Caleb Williams was there, is among betting favorites for the Bears coaching job.
Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, an advisor at USC last year while Caleb Williams was there, is among betting favorites for the Bears coaching job. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Bears fans hoping for a quick resolution or a speeded-up process for this coaching hunt are going to need to simply get used to waiting.

It's going to be a long ride unless they're interviewing unemployed coaches. They're not going to do that any time soon, either, because current interim head coach Thomas Brown needs to be considered and it's not fair to him and the current players if they're out pursuing other coaches while the current season is being conducted.

That's not to say they wouldn't talk to someone who is out of coaching in secret, but they'd need to conduct these with total radio silence, so to speak. And things like this never stay secret because of agents. It would be totally embarrassing for the Bears if that got out. So, expect such interviews after the regular season ends, too.

Here's how it can work according to league rules via NFL.com.

The Process

Until last year there was no time limit on interviews but then a maximum of three hours was voted into effect. Here are the important dates for those talks of three hours or less:

  • Jan. 6 will mark when teams can begin to request interviews with candidates who are with other teams.
  • They can actually conduct an interview with anyone on a team missing the playoffs three days after the Jan. 5 end to the regular season (Jan. 8). Interviews will be conducted virtually and must happen before the end of the divisional playoff round, which would be Jan. 19. 
  • If the candidate's team has a wild-card round bye, the virtual interviews can begin when all of the others can on Jan. 8 and must be done by the end of the wild-card round. If they are with a playoff team that is taking part in the wild-card round, they can't do an interview until three days after their wild-card game. Those interviews must happen before the end of the divisional round games.

Second Interviews

  • Obviously, when a playoff team is eliminated and also with teams who didn't make the playoffs, the Bears could talk to those candidates without restrictions other than the three-day wait after the end of their teams’ seasons. When those happen, teams can then request a second interview with a candidate who is still in the playoffs, to be held in the bye week immediately following the conference championship games. The conference championship games are Jan. 26.

Of Note

  • Contact with head coach candidates in the Super Bowl is not allowed during Super Bowl week until Feb. 12, which is the day after the Super Bowl.
  • Rules they have in place for this process are absolute and can’t be waived by a team to let one of their assistant coaches interview somewhere else, just as they can’t prohibit a team from talking to any coaching candidate.

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.