Bear Digest

Who Really Should Be High on Bears List of Coach Candidates

Analysis: Everyone has a list now and none of them are valid with so much time until the hiring process begins so here's one idea on where they should go.

Gene Chamberlain

Dave Toub is a leader of men, a winner and the former Bears special teams coordinator who gave us Devin Hester.
Dave Toub is a leader of men, a winner and the former Bears special teams coordinator who gave us Devin Hester. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
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Lists are forming.

Everyone has a list of who the Bears will consider for coach but at this point their validity is like a list of 2028 potential presidential candidates.

Premature? Yah think?

The main reason no one knows who they'll consider is there are still five weeks left in the regular season and all of the playoffs. This could be a situation where the next Bears head coach is hired in mid-February or in the week off before the Super Bowl. There’s a long way to go and potential for numerous unsung people to rocket up the chart.

If Thomas Brown can do something spectacular as head coach, it might be the day after the regular season ends when the Bears announce their head coach. The ball is in his court, so to speak.

No one knows who is on their list except Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren. You'd think George McCaskey, as well, but the less he has to do with any of it is probably the better since it was from the list of three finalists assembled by McCaskey, Bill Polian and Ted Phillips that Poles was allowed to choose Matt Eberflus.

This will be Poles' first real attempt at finding his own head coach, although Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says it is Kevin Warren leading the search with Poles only assisting. It would seem Warren has more than enough on his own plate at not getting a stadium built to worry about being the main man on a coaching search. Take this report with a grain of salt.

Eberflus was essentially an adopted head coach, chosen by Poles over Dan Quinn and Jim Caldwell, the other hand-picked candidates given to him.

What is certain is to expect surprises because of the length of time before they'll even start to interview the coaches who are with potential playoff teams.

On Sunday, CBS' Jonathan Jones cited "sources" saying the Bears would seek a "leader of men." This was also the popular idea in the search they had that led to Eberflus being hired.

George McCaskey, before he hired his last coach, said he was looking for a leader.

"They don’t have to like him, they don’t have to love him, but they respect him," McCaskey said at his press conference announcing the firing of Matt Nagy. "So the primary quality we’ll be looking for in both the general manager and the head coach is leadership.”

One of the names SI.com's Albert Breer reported as being someone McCaskey liked last time they hired was Les Frazier, the former Bears cornerback, Vikings head coach and Bills/Vikings/Buccaneers/Bengals defensive coordinator. Frazier is assistant head coach with the Seahawks and obviously will be available again.

With Poles and president Kevin Warren reported to be running this show instead of McCaskey and his committee of five from 2022, perhaps Frazier’s name won’t come up again. He is definitely someone Warren knows plenty about because he was with the Vikings when Frazier was head coach.

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The lists of names who will pop up everywhere will always include people like Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Conor Orr of SI put out a list, which, like all lists now is his own. Ben Johnson, Brian Flores, Kliff Kingsbury and Bobby Slowik were at the top of it.  They’re names atop everyone’s list but all can change in a matter of weeks and the playoffs.

Flores' past controversies coming out of his stint as Dolphins head coach are a red flag but shouldn't prevent anyone from leaning to him.

If Brown turns out to be a positive force as offensive coordinator to end the season but isn't what they want in a head coach, there's nothing wrong with hiring another defensive coordinator as head coach–particularly one as dynamic and successful as Flores is with the Vikings.

An interesting name on the list Orr put out is Frank Smith, Miami's offensive coordinator. He isn't the play caller but organizes the offense and has been a head coaching candidate before, last year for the Carolina job.

No one says leaders of men must be defensive coordinators. Yet, the CBS story by Jones lists examples of leaders of men and all of them on his list are.

This was only his own list and not one given to him by a source as belonging to the Bears.

The list given by Jones of all defensive coordinators includes former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who is 72 years old and never had real NFL success as a head coach until Tom Brady was his quarterback. Then Belichick flopped after Brady left.

Making your own list is as good as any of these "lists" being put out now because the Bears are not releasing who they have on their lists and anything else out there now is fantasy.

The lists of "favorites," based on gambling odds or AI or II ("ignorant intelligence") are meaningless, too.

Five weeks of the regular season and the playoffs make all of that garbage.

Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis is working with a unique scheme that held the Bears to nine points and they're in a fight for a division title. If they made a playoff run, his name could come up. Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing already is getting that kind of recognition.

In six weeks, maybe Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb will be the hot name. He's running an attack for a head coach with a defensive background and is battling for a division title.

Kellen Moore is the offensive coordinator for the Eagles, has been a head coaching candidate before and isn't being talked about much as a head coaching candidate. If the Eagles go to the Super Bowl he will be.

Philadelphia doesn't get enough credit for being in the NFC hunt. The Eagles beat the Packers and have the kind of ball-control offense that has given the Lions big problems in the past. Example: The 7-10 Bears last year with a win and another game that should have been a win against them except for the traditional Eberflus late-game collapse. That was a ball-control offense used against the Lions in both games.

Who's to say defensive coaches like Mike Vrabel are the only leaders of men to be considered? Offensive coaches are leaders of men. Andy Reid, Nick Sirianni and Sean Payton are leaders of men who are top offensive coaches.

Leaders of men can be special teams coordinators, as well. John Harbaugh is an example.

Want an example of a leader of men who is a special teams coordinator and should have been given a chance at head coach somewhere? Former Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub, who gave everyone Devin Hester and continues to operate great special teams with the Chiefs. This is someone familiar with the Chicago situation, and never has had problems getting players to believe.

Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the list goes on and on now and much can change well before the regular season ends, let alone the playoffs.

They're not going to be interviewing coaches with other teams during the regular season so the unsubstantiated rumors and "lists" will continue for more than a month.

Put your own out there. It’s as good as anything else being put out. Here’s mine, not who will be favorites but who I like.

1. Dave Toub, KC special teams coach. He knows Poles, they can keep the offense the same for Williams, and Toub is experienced enough in the league to bring in a good defensive coordinator.

2. Steve Spagnuolo, Chiefs DC. He failed as a head coach earlier in his career but it was with poor talent and in two terrible organizations, the St. Louis Rams after their great run and the Giants, who remain rotten. This Bears defense would only improve under Spagnuolo, who essentially won the last Super Bowl for the Chiefs. He could keep Brown as offensive coordinator. He was with the Chiefs when Poles was there, just like Toub. The reason Matt Nagy failed in Chicago was he is not Reid and Reid was the Chiefs offensive decision maker. They should be considering the coordinators for the Chiefs who actually made them a success.

3. Mike Vrabel, former Titans coach. The last Bears Super Bowl was won by a tough guy. The Lions’ success is because of their tough guy head coach. Vrabel is a tough guy. Vrabel won until the incompetence of the front office weighed him down in Tennessee. How do you trade A.J. Brown? Vrabel walked away from the draft table after this was decided. It’s going to take a better running game to beat Green Bay and Detroit and the Titans always had this under Vrabel, besides their strong defense.

4. Thomas Brown interim Bears coach. He’s in a good position to move up my ladder. Win some games at the end where the Bears were losing them earlier, and he can keep the job.

5. Bobby Slowik, Houston OC. Brings along young QBs very well, as C.J. Stroud showed last year. The Bears are all about Williams now.

6. Kellen Moore, Eagles OC. He’s been in several different situations and succeeded with the offense. Anyone with Philadelphia experience is a plus because Howie Roseman’s organization succeeds.

7. Liam Coen, Tampa Bay offensive coordinator. He was considered for Bears offensive coordinator and knows the current Bears offense well. He’s been a QB coach, and his team beat the Lions this year with Baker Mayfield at QB.

8. Joe Brady, Bills OC. The Bills offense seemed to be reeling and he righted the ship and always has had a touch with passing games dating back to his season at LSU.

9. Ben Johnson, Lions OC. He’s down this list because in the last three games against the Bears he has abandoned the running game when it was obviously working, and let Matt Eberflus’ teams either hang around with a chance to win or dominate the game like they did last year twice. You can’t base everything on three games, but in three games Chicago has seen the worst of Johnson, a coordinator who also has the luxury of the game’s best offensive line helping make his attack work. Would he have this luxury in Chicago? He also hasn't developed a young QB into a success.

10. Klint Kubiak, Saints OC. He has a background with the 49ers’ style  and his own father’s success as a run-oriented coordinator. He has been an offensive coordinator in the past with Minnesota. The Bears considered him for offensive coordinator before hiring Shane Waldron.

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.