The Chicago Bears are rumored to be looking at these new head coaches

It seems as though the Chicago Bears brass is listening to fans and analysts alike. It also seems as though they are fed up with this team underperforming just as much as the rest of us — shocking I know. However, based on one recent rumor, it appears that Matt Nagy’s time as head coach of the Bears has come to an end. At least that is what one NFL insider believes.

Benjamin Allbright, Broncos insider for KOA Colorado, was recently on a local sports podcast “Sports Talk Chicago” hosted by Jon Zaghloul. In this episode, Zaghloul and Allbright discuss many things Bears related, but one specific topic was the fate and future of head coach Matt Nagy. Allbright not only gives his opinion on the matter but speaks to the fact that he has insider knowledge of what is going on at Halas Hall.

The Chicago Bears are rumored to be interested in four or five coaches right now

That’s right, Allbright not only divulges that he believes Matt Nagy is all but gone, but he also discusses how the team has already started looking into potential replacements — doing their homework so-to-speak. The top candidate without doing a single interview is currently Brian Daboll, however, he also mentions one other candidate he believes will at least be given an interview. How will Brian Daboll fit and who is this other mystery coaching candidate?

The Chicago Bears have Brian Daboll atop their coaching list

Having Brian Daboll atop the list should give many fans just what they wanted as the team heads into 2022. Now, with nine games left, maybe Matt Nagy finds a way to spark something in this team and they win enough games that he keeps the job. This seems nearly impossible at the moment.

The question I have is, who is looking at potential replacements? Is it just Ted Phillips and George McCaskey, or does this mean that Ryan Pace is safe too? Typically a team will find a general manager before looking at replacement coaches, but we know how backward the Bears front office can be at times. More on this thought later.

Brian Daboll is one of my top candidates to replace Matt Nagy. In fact, he is my very top candidate and I might be disappointed with any coach that is not him, even if they too are in my top five. What I love about Daboll is the fact he does not come from one coaching tree. Too many times we believe the offensive coordinator who has really only been with one coach (AKA: Matt Nagy) will turn out to be as successful as that coach. This happens with Andy Reid, Bill Belichick and others.

Bill Daboll is not that coach. He has worked with Bill Belichick and the Patriots (twice), he has worked as the offensive coordinator of the Browns — although they were not very good at the time. This was with Eric Mangini, who technically was connected to Bill Belichick at one point. He worked under Tony Sporano for a season in Miami. He worked under Romeo Crennel for a season in Kansas City, but that dumpster fire didn’t last, making way for Andy Reid.

Now, for the last four seasons, Brian Daboll has been working in Buffalo under Sean McDermott. Many might look at this as a negative since Daboll has not found his own success until now, whereas a guy like Kellen Moore has flown up the ladder in Dallas and has only been coaching for four years now — one season as the quarterbacks coach and the last three as the offensive coordinator. However, I think it’s time for a seasoned veteran like Brian Daboll here in Chicago.

Daboll has helped groom Josh Allen into an MVP after struggling his rookie season. Allen showed solid developmental growth in year two and has been an MVP candidate for the last two seasons. We even saw a glimpse of how well Mitch Tubisky can do in Brian Daboll’s system. I think he can come here to Chicago and truly help Justin Fields develop. Fields needs his next system to work or we could see another quarterback never reach his full potential again.

Will the Chicago Bears give Vance Joseph a real shot?

Benjamin Allbright also mentions Vance Joseph as a coaching candidate he believes the Chicago Bears will be interested in interviewing. Joseph was the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 2017 and 2018, but those teams were not that successful with 5-11 and 6-10 seasons.

Joseph is more of a defensive-minded coach, which honestly I think that the front office will be very interested in here this year. While the head coach of Denver, the Broncos offense ranked 17th and 19th in yards, but only 27th and 24th in points. Are we looking to replace Matt Nagy with another Matt Nagy? I kid, I kid.

As Joseph is more of a defensive-minded coach, let’s see how the defense did under him. In 2017, Denver was third in yards allowed, but 22nd in points allowed. In 2018, the Broncos’ defense seems to have been more like the old Bears, bend but don’t break, defense as they were 22nd in yards allowed, but 13th in points allowed. The team was fifth in takeaways that year too, which makes sense based on the points they gave up versus the yards they allowed.

Now, Joseph finds himself as the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals. he has been in place for the last three years. The team was below average in 2019, vastly improved in 2020 and is now one of the more dominant defenses in the NFL this season.

In 2019, Arizona was dead last in yards allowed, 28th in points and 25th in takeaways. In 2020, the defense improved to 13th in yards allowed, 12th in points allowed and 18th in takeaways. Now, this season, Arizona is currently fourth in yards allowed, third in points allowed and fifth in takeaways.

Here’s the thing, that’s great and all, but if I am being honest, Vance Joseph is probably only going to see an interview with the Chicago Bears to fulfill the Rooney Rule. The Rooney Rule was established in 2003 and it requires a team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one diverse coaching candidate. Now, the NFL has made some new incentives for hiring these coaches too. We will see how these new incentives might help add diversity to the head coaching and general managers in the NFL, but the old rule was a joke by itself.

I leave you with this. I am assuming that Brian Daboll is among most Chicago Bears fans coaching lists. Does hearing that the team is already doing homework on him give you any sense of excitement? Are there other coaching candidates you’d prefer to see atop the list? For me, knowing that Daboll is being considered has me very excited and I’ll have more on that later.