Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that the Chicago Bears would like to bring in an established head coach if possible to replace Marc Trestman.
According to La Canfora, the Bears have “explored” the idea of hiring Jim Harbaugh as their next head coach, and they are reportedly interested in the idea.
However, offering him a salary of $8 million to compete with the University of Michigan and other NFL teams like the Raiders is expected to be an issue for the Bears.
On top of that, La Canfora mentions that hiring Harbaugh would likely result in them firing longtime team president Ted Phillips.
Interestingly enough, former Broncos and Redskins HC Mike Shanahan could emerge as a candidate if the Bears wanted to try to make things work with QB Jay Cutler.
According to La Canfora, Shanahan has “very strong interest” in working with Cutler again and he would reportedly be willing to accept far less than the $7 million salary he was paid by the Redskins.
Another candidate for Chicago could be Ravens OC Gary Kubiak.
Shanahan’s overall record in four seasons as the Redskins head coach is 24-40 (.375), but he has won 55 percent of his NFL games to go along with two Super Bowl titles over the course of his career.
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This could and “interesting” match contradicting my first thoughts about Shanahan which I believe is and seem “washed out”specially during his final two years in Washington; though that could be of working for Daniel Snyder for 4 years would do that to any man. What makes me reconsider my stance is the possibility of bringing along Wade Phillips as his Defensive Coordinator, now that makes a huge difference. I’m all in on putting my “chips”on Shanahan ONLY if Wade Phillips comes along ad DC, no Phillips, I’m looking at the other candidates ( Dave Toub) or Seattle’s Dan Quinn, perhaps.
The Bears need a HC whose interested and willing to work with Cutler and feels he can win with Cutler. Bruce Arians WAS THAT GUY but Trestman never was. Just another guy trying to fit Cutler’s square edges into his own round holes. Cutler isn’t going anywhere soon so maybe a different approach should be tried.
Shanahan may not be the only choice but he may be the best choice right now. It wasn’t Cutler who got Shanny fired in Denver it was defense nearly as pathetic as the Bears. Shanahan has been the only HC who Cutler played for at a Pro Bowl level and that was in just his second year in the NFL. It’s been downhill ever since.
The other plus is that it will be far easier for Shanahan to find a good DC to build his defense around some good young players than to hire a defensive minded HC and then ask him to hire an OC who’ll risk his career working with Cutler. That’s was one of the problems Lovie had and why he ended up with Martz and eventually Tice.
Some good points here.
The Bears could probably get Shanahan much cheaper than some other options. This would likely be Shanahan’s last opportunity in the NFL, so he has to get it right.
Chicago could move on quickly if it proves to be a poor signing.
Personally, I would still shop around to find the best option, but this year’s crop of candidates aren’t overly inspiring outside of a few guys.
I think Todd Bowles would be a good option based on the fact that he has done so well in terms of developing young talent. That should be a larger priority for CHI in my opinion given that they have gotten so little out of draft picks and younger players.