The Chicago Bears officially announced the firing of Head Coach John Fox on Monday morning after three seasons with the organization.
After a disappointing 5-11 season, Bears brass had didn’t like the direction the franchise was going with Fox at the helm. Thus begins the search for a new head coach who will become the 16th in the franchise’s storied history.
The Bears can begin interviewing candidates today and there are a lot of hot names on the list. Here are some potential candidates that could fill the role of returning the franchise to glory.
Dave Toub
Toub spent 9 seasons as the Special Teams coordinator for the Chicago Bears under Lovie Smith. He was arguably the best ST coordinator in the league during that time and moved on to Kansas City where he currently serves as the ST coach for the Chiefs.
This looks like it’s finally going to be the year that Toub gets a head coaching job and what better landing spot than Chicago? Toub does have connections to other open jobs such as Indianapolis and potentially Cleveland. Outside of coaching here for 9 seasons, Toub doesn’t have a connection to General Manager Ryan Pace.
NFL Insider Benjamin Albright hinted that Toub is atop the Bears list early on:
https://twitter.com/AllbrightNFL/status/946942599855669248
John DeFilippo
The current Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach will be a hot name for a lot of open jobs. An attraction to DeFilippo comes at the quarterback position.
The 39-year-old has experience both in the NFL and college, working with quarterbacks Derek Carr and Carson Wentz. Pairing him with Mitchell Trubisky could be a match made in heaven for the Bears.
The Bears currently have a meeting set up with DeFilippo according to NFL Network’s Mark Garafolo:
Bears are setting up an interview with Eagles QB coach John DeFilippo for later this week, sources tell me and @RapSheet. His work with Carson Wentz has made him a legit candidate.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 1, 2018
Josh McDaniels
This is arguably the hottest name on the coaching market in 2018.
The New England Patriots offensive coordinator has been a head coach once before, landing the Denver Broncos job in 2009 but didn’t last long as he was fired by the organization in 2010. McDaniels caused some drama right away when it leaked that he didn’t want quarterback Jay Cutler in Denver. The Broncos traded away Cutler to Chicago and made their choice to keep McDaniels.
He’s worked under an offense that has consistently been one of the best in all of football since 2012, working with the great Tom Brady. Can he work wonders with Trubisky?
Pete Carmichael Jr.
The longest tenured offensive coordinator in the NFL will be on the list for possible head coaching candidates for the Bears. Carmichael has been the Saints offensive coordinator since 2009 and has 17 years of NFL experience coaching offense.
He has been apart of Saints coaching staff that has consistently had one of the best offenses in all of football during the Drew Brees and Sean Payton era.
There is a connection already for the Bears to Carmichael as general manager Ryan Pace was apart of the Saints organization as the two worked together for eight seasons. Pace’s priority is to find offensive minded coach to groom quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
NFL Insider Ian Rapoport reported this morning that Carmichael will indeed be on the list of possible candidates for the head coaching:
Expect the #Bears to look into Pete Carmichael as a potential HC candidate https://t.co/2KZUGdMex4
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 31, 2017
Jim Bob Cooter
The offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions will be an intriguing candidate as he fits the criteria for a young up and coming offensive mind. He has been their coordinator since being promoted to the position during the 2015 season.
During his time in Detroit, quarterback Mathew Stafford has average 27 touchdown passes per season and has posted back to back seasons of a quarterback rating higher than 90. Many believe he would be an idea fit to help grow Trubisky’s skill set at the quarterback position.
Pat Shurmur
The Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator has drawn attention for his lengthy NFL coaching resume along with the success of the Vikings offense this year with quarterback Case Keenum. Shurmur is one of the few coordinators that has head coaching experience as he was the Browns head coach in 2011 and 2012.
https://twitter.com/GoesslingStrib/status/947967301638328321
His work with Keenum is a plus for a team focusing on finding the right coach for their quarterback. Keenum threw 22 touchdowns and had an impressive quarterback rating of 98.3 this season with the Vikings.
The improvement is impressive seeing how he had a rating of just 76.4 last season with the Rams.
Frank Reich
The former quarterback has 10 seasons of coaching experience and as has worked with high quality offensive coaches and quarterbacks. He was apart of the Indianapolis Colts organization from 2008 to 2011 in which he was the quarterbacks coach for Peyton Manning.
Since the Colts, Reich has been an offensive coordinator for four seasons spending two years with the Chargers and Phillip Rivers and the last two seasons with the Eagles and Carson Wentz. Wentz was a favorite to win the league MVP award this season before tearing his ACL back in Week 14.
Vic Fangio
The current Bears defensive coordinator is believed to be in line for a interview for the Bears head coaching position due to his retooling of the team’s defense. The Bears were dead last in many defensive categories before Fangio’s arrival in 2015, since then the team has had a top 10 defense the past two seasons even with many costly injuries.
Fangio has 31 years of coaching experience starting as a linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints back in 1986. He has overseen several top five defenses in his time as a coordinator most recently with the Jim Harbaugh 49ers four seasons ago. Many believe it would be an idea fit because of his defensive expertise and familiarity with the Bears roster already.
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