There was a silver lining to these frustrating Bears losses of the past month or so.
Each painful defeat pushed them closer to a top-10 draft pick in 2025. And this team clearly needs more talent on the offensive and defensive lines, so it seemed like the right path.
Now let’s shift gears and start a new wish for the Bears’ future. The team performs so well under interim head coach Thomas Brown, the Bears have no other choice than to give him the permanent role. Oh, and he happens to be the right person for the job, that’s important too.
Many of us are old enough to remember the overwhelming joy felt in the city when former coach Matt Nagy was fired. Our long municipal nightmare had ended, problem solved.
Chicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown listens to reporters during an NFL football news conference at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill., Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
AP
Yeah, not quite. Matt Eberflus was nowhere near as successful as Nagy, and now the Bears are on their third coach and third promising young quarterback since the double-doink. And counting.
Who hired Eberflus? Well, it was general manager Ryan Poles, of course. Team president Kevin Warren arrived a year later, so the coach selection squad has a new participant. But Warren has been busy picking out lounge décor for the team’s fictional new stadium. Is there any reason to think he’ll improve the process of hiring the next coach?
That’s why the Bears’ best chance at a successful process is Brown becoming the accidental genius. Originally hired to be the Bears’ passing game coordinator, Brown spent three years with the Rams, so let’s consider him part of the Sean McVay coaching tree.
Plenty of national analysts have talked this week about the Bears vacancy being a “great” job. Well, any NFL head coaching position is a sweet gig. No one should ever feel bad when a professional head coach is fired. That coach likely has guaranteed money on the way and is financially set for life. Most everyone in the stands (and press box) would trade problems in a second.
Coaching in Chicago might be unique, though, because the primary task isn’t to win. It’s to deflect criticism from the owners.
When everybody got worked into a frenzy over the “Fire Nagy” movement, the McCaskey family no doubt watched from their lair at Halas Hall and thought, “They blame him, not us. Excellent.”
A report this week claimed Jim Harbaugh expressed interest in coaching the Bears and the idea was immediately dismissed. That may well be true, but the details matter here. Harbaugh gave NFL teams a list of demands (top-level salary, plenty of cash for the staff, approval of GM hire, final say in offensive personnel) and told teams he’d stay at Michigan if they didn’t meet his price.
The Bears weren’t about to agree to any of those demands, so Harbaugh’s return to Chicago was never happening. The Chargers said yes and are now in a good spot to make the playoffs.
So let’s just skip the job interviews and search firms. Keep your fingers crossed that Brown is the right guy and management’s best move is to do nothing. It just might work.
The Blackhawks also changed coaches this week, and that decision came with some questionable logic. If Anders Sorensen is the best coach in the organization, shouldn’t he just stay in Rockford, where most of the team’s top prospects reside?
The Hawks have gotten this far into the season with the NHL’s worst record, it’s probably time to be dreaming about the No. 1 draft pick. At least Sorensen did his part by losing his debut to Winnipeg on Saturday.