A recent report revealed that if Mike McCarthy were not brought back by the Dallas Cowboys for the 2025 season, he would be setting his sights on the Chicago Bears job.
While it did not say that the Bears would be all in on hiring McCarthy, it does continue a notable trend when looking at potential coaches.
The Chicago Bears have been linked to coaches with a specific background
Of course, there is Ben Johnson. He is the top candidate and does not quite fall under this. However, the rest are all notably retread coaches with past experience winning in the NFL. Mike Vrabel, Pete Carroll, Ron Rivera, and McCarthy are all veteran names that have generated a mention in the Bears' search for a new head coach. All of them have playoff wins and in the case of Carroll and McCarthy, Super Bowl victories.
There are potentially a few things at play. First, the pool of young, up-and-coming coordinators may not be quite as strong as in past years. Beyond that, while someone like McCarthy is wondering about his job and the others are out of jobs, the hot young coordinators such as Johnson and Liam Coen are still preparing for the playoffs. The connection to the lesser experienced guys could come later.
At the same time, it could be something that the Bears are looking for. We have heard the leader of men talk, and a coach with a ring, or at least a conference championship appearance can carry weight.
The Bears have also been known to do this. Each of their hires since firing Lovie Smith has proved to be an over-correction from their previous head coach.
If the cycle does continue then an offensive-minded head coach with experience would be the opposite of Eberflus, which does open the door to McCarthy.