Another Chicago Bears season without a playoff appearance is over. Now it’s full speed ahead on another head-coaching search.
General manager Ryan Poles is expected to lead the process with input from president/CEO Kevin Warren. Interim head coach Thomas Brown, who earned his first victory Sunday in Green Bay, will get an interview but won’t be among the favorites to land the job.
The obvious priorities for the new boss are developing quarterback Caleb Williams and righting the ship after a frustrating 5-12 season under Matt Eberflus.
The Athletic’s Bears writers, Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns, are here with their takes on the likely candidates.
Ben Johnson, Lions offensive coordinator
Fishbain: The Lions have ranked in the top four in yards gained each of the last three seasons. They’re second in 2024. The last time the Bears finished in the top four in total offense was 1977 when they were third. There’s no doubting the scheme. There’s no question that Johnson has helped quarterback Jared Goff elevate his game. Players there seem to love him. This would be a win in Chicago, and maybe this team should want, at minimum, a PR victory.
Jahns: Johnson is the top offensive-minded candidate in this year’s cycle. It wouldn’t take much to sell the belief in what pairing him with Williams means this year and beyond. But it’s also possible that the Bears aren’t the best fit for Johnson, who has removed himself from the previous two hiring cycles, despite interest. If Johnson doesn’t connect with Poles and/or Warren — or if he’s concerned about how things function at Halas Hall — it wouldn’t be surprising if he winds up elsewhere.
Mike Vrabel, former Titans head coach
Jahns: If you’re not looking for an offensive mind, Vrabel is by far the best candidate on the market. The team that hires him should rightfully celebrate it. Are the Bears the best fit for Vrabel? Would he want to work with Poles and Warren? Zack Rosenblatt’s feature on Vrabel for The Athletic detailed what Vrabel wants from his next team: clear and open communication with ownership, collaboration between the GM and ownership, plus a good quarterback. The Patriots, the team Vrabel won three Super Bowls with, might be the front-runner for his services now.
Fishbain: One element that stood out from Rosenblatt’s feature on Vrabel was the intense focus on situations. Those Titans teams were prepared for anything, and Vrabel put a lot of emphasis on game management. He has a lot of qualities the Bears need in a head coach. He comes with the fewest question marks, but the biggest one — that he’s not going to be calling plays for Williams — will loom over his candidacy.
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Brian Flores, Vikings defensive coordinator
Fishbain: The Dolphins finished above .500 more times under Flores (two) than the Bears have under Eberflus, Matt Nagy, John Fox and Marc Trestman combined. Flores’ Vikings defenses have been outstanding. He knows the division. For the Bears’ sake, he’s hopefully learned from any mistakes in Miami and has been open about Tua Tagovailoa’s criticism.
Jahns: Flores will face questions about his plans for Williams and the offense. It’s different from Vrabel, too. Vrabel’s first two offensive coordinators in Tennessee were Matt LaFleur and Arthur Smith. Both became head coaches — and they’re still calling plays in the NFL. Bears fans know that LaFleur is one of the best. The same isn’t the case for Flores’ hires in Miami: Chad O’Shea in 2019, Chan Gailey in 2020 and George Godsey and Eric Studesville in 2021.
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn didn’t hurt his candidacy with Sunday night’s performance against the Vikings. (Nic Antaya / Getty Images)
Aaron Glenn, Lions defensive coordinator
Jahns: If we’re ranking defensive candidates, Glenn would seem to be behind Vrabel and Flores because he lacks head coaching experience. He’s in charge of one of the NFL’s best defenses this year, but the Lions ranked 19th, 32nd and 29th in yards allowed during the previous three seasons. On the other hand, the argument can be made that they’ve gotten better with Glenn. The Lions don’t have the best season in franchise history without him.
Fishbain: When the Bears have lost players to injuries, they’ve lost games. The Lions lost what seemed like their entire defense and kept winning. Now Detroit’s defense has struggled during this stretch, but the Lions did hold the Vikings without a touchdown on Sunday night to earn the first seed in the NFC. Glenn appears to be a very popular coach. With any defensive coach, it’s going to be, “What’s your plan at quarterback?” But who wouldn’t want someone from Detroit’s staff?
Kliff Kingsbury, Commanders offensive coordinator
Fishbain: It’s going to be extremely difficult for the Bears to hire anyone who was in last year’s offensive coordinator search as the head coach, whether that’s Kingsbury, Brown, Liam Coen or Greg Roman. Assuming Poles is leading the search, how can he say, “We didn’t think this guy was good enough to run our offense last year, but now he’s going to run the team”? Or maybe the Bears overcompensating on that mistake is a good thing for an offensive mind like Kingsbury and someone who already has a relationship with Williams.
Jahns: Kingsbury should be a candidate for any team with a young quarterback, considering his success with Jayden Daniels this season. That should include the Bears with Williams. But it wouldn’t be surprising if Kingsbury didn’t reciprocate the Bears’ perceived interest in him. The Bears had their chance to hire him and whiffed on it.
Anthony Weaver, Dolphins defensive coordinator
Jahns: Weaver won’t generate the same fanfare that hiring Johnson or Vrabel would for the Bears. But he’s an intriguing candidate when you dig deeper. The Dolphins had a disappointing 8-9 season, but their defense was formidable under Weaver. He was also the Ravens’ assistant head coach during the 2022 and 2023 seasons after being promoted from defensive line coach. Coach John Harbaugh called him an “absolute star” at the NFL combine last year. Said Harbaugh: “The way he manages players and coaches and works with the people, I just think he’s a great leader and he’s going to do a great job, whatever he does.”
Fishbain: I don’t know much about Weaver, but I’m using him as an example here as to why we can’t ignore any candidates. Every great head coach was once a first-time head coach. The Bears have failed in their last three attempts to find that guy. Every team wants to be the one to say, “We found the next (fill in the blank).” One day, Weaver will be a head coach. Who knows if he’ll be one of the good ones, but some team is going to take the chance that they found him. He interviewed for the Falcons’ and Commanders’ openings last year.
Thomas Brown, Bears interim head coach
Fishbain: The Bears probably hoped they had their future head coach in their building when they promoted Brown. At the time, there was a lot to like about the mini-audition. As I mentioned with Weaver, Brown will be a head coach one day. He walked into a very challenging situation and with the way these games have been lost, his first permanent head-coaching job will likely be elsewhere, but Poles and Warren can learn a lot about the building by talking to him.
Jahns: Poles confirmed in his weekly pregame interview on ESPN 1000 that Brown would get an interview. He said he was impressed with Brown’s leadership and acknowledged that he was thrust into a very difficult situation. Players have also stood by Brown despite all the losing. Williams awarded Brown the game ball after the Bears beat the Packers at Lambeau Field. I also don’t think Brown’s standing around the league has changed much because of the Bears’ problems. He should get another chance to run a team at some point. The Texans, Panthers and Titans interviewed him for their head coach openings in the past.
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady is likely to get a head coaching opportunity before long, but would the Bears hire the 35-year-old? (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
Joe Brady, Bills offensive coordinator
Jahns: Three years ago, Brian Daboll became a candidate for the Bears and other teams because of his role in the development of superstar Josh Allen. Daboll eventually joined the New York Giants along with then-Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen. Daboll has gone 18-32-1 in three seasons. Allen, meanwhile, didn’t seem to miss Daboll whatsoever. Does that hurt Brady’s candidacy?
Fishbain: After running the offense for one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time (Joe Burrow at LSU), Brady has designed the offense that could earn Allen his first NFL MVP award. How much is Brady and how much is the quarterback? How would the Bears front office feel about a 35-year-old head coach? Someone will take a chance on Brady soon.
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Pete Carroll, former Seahawks head coach
Fishbain: Here’s a fun scenario: hire Carroll, and he makes his offensive coordinator his successor. I’m not worried at all about Carroll’s age (73) when it comes to taking over the Bears, bringing in a staff and implementing a winning program. He led Seattle to 10 playoff appearances. The Bears have been to the playoffs 10 times in the past 36 seasons. So how about Carroll hires a great play caller and it’s written into the contract that in a few seasons after Carroll retires, that coach takes over?
Jahns: It wasn’t an accident that Carroll’s apparent interest in the Bears was reported a day before the Bears played the Seahawks in a nationally televised game. Talking to Carroll should be different than other candidates. He’s more than twice as old as Brady, for example. The Bears should listen to everything Carroll has to say about them and more. But we should probably mention Ron Rivera’s name here as well. Like Carroll, he wants to coach again. Rivera, the former coach of the Panthers and Commanders, just interviewed with the Jets. But I don’t think Rivera is visiting Halas Hall unless he believes the team is truly serious about his candidacy. He has an obvious history with the franchise that Carroll doesn’t.
Matt Campbell, Iowa State head coach
Jahns: If the Bears are going to have an extensive search, as Warren promised, it wouldn’t be surprising if some college coaches were considered or, at the very least, inquired about as part of the team’s information-gathering process. Campbell and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman come to mind, but Campbell’s name has surfaced more in previous cycles. Maybe the Bears are curious why.
Fishbain: Sure, I guess. Go outside the box. But this team is not really in position to hire a college coach. It’s not a rebuilding team or one filled with rookies and second-year players. There will be enough veterans to compete next season. Unless Campbell is a quarterback savant or can bring one along with him, it doesn’t seem like the right time to go to the college ranks.
(Top photos of Ben Johnson and Brian Flores: Junfu Han / USA Today Network via Imagn Images; Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
