The Chicago Bears are going through a lengthy process in their search for the next head coach of their football team. After firing a coach in the middle of a season for the first time in franchise history, the front office hopes to find a candidate that will lead the Bears and leave the last decade of turmoil in the rearview mirror. They have plenty of options, as they are undergoing an exhaustive search to find their man. They are interviewing far more candidates than other franchises looking to fill their head coaching vacancy.
The Chicago Bears have or are set to interview upwards of 17 candidates for their head coaching role. Candidates range from hot coordinators to idle coaches to college coaches to personnel consultants, meaning GM Ryan Poles is going deep in the weeds to make his first coaching hire in Chicago. Popular candidates around the league top the Bears’ list with Lions coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, Vikings DC Brian Flores, and Cleveland Assistant Coach Mike Vrabel. There are also plenty of lesser-known candidates in the mix who could just as easily be named the next Bears head coach.
Chicago Bears Search For Next Head Coach
The Chicago Bears are one of six teams looking for a new head coach. They, along with the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints fired their previous head coaches in the middle of disappointing seasons. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots have let go of their coaches since the final game of the regular season on Sunday. Each team will have their own tactic for finding a new coach and recruiting their favorite candidates to wear their headset next fall, and the Chicago Bears are certainly taking an interesting path.
The Chicago Bears have cast a wide net in their search for the next head coach of their team. They have, or intend to interview 17 different candidates for the position. This sounds daunting, and to a certain degree it is, but these are mostly virtual interviews. In-person interviews aren’t allowed to be conducted until January 20 for coaches on playoff teams according to recent NFL rule changes. By then Chicago’s search will be whittled down. All the candidates are viable possibilities to be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears, and perhaps more importantly, Caleb Williams‘ head coach.
Meet the Candidates
With 17 names in the running to date, the potential coaches cover many backgrounds, perspectives, and features in their candidacy for the head coaching role. There are traditional paths that coaches take to becoming a head coach like coordinating a side of the ball or having previous head coaching experience, and the Bears found plenty of those candidates intriguing enough to interview.
There are also some unusual names on the list that may sound far-fetched, but they are just as far along in the process as anyone else who could become the next head coach of Chicago. 17 names, 17 stories, and 17 different paths forward for the Bears. Here are the candidates for the head coaching position with the Chicago Bears.
Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson
Johnson has taken his side of the football and turned it into a potent threat, making them a 15-win team. Johnson has been a rising star in league circles for a while, and most followers of the league were surprised when he did not take a head coaching position last year despite being offered multiple jobs.
The decision to come back has proven to be a good one for the Lions’ offensive guru. He is an even hotter commodity this offseason and will have his pick of the litter when it comes to where he would like to coach in 2025.
Minnesota Vikings DC Brian Flores
Flores has had a bumpy ride in the NFL. After leaving New England to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins he butted heads with his GM and ownership, leading to his exit. The aftermath of his Miami tenure was newsworthy for many reasons. Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa came out and highlighted the differences between how he was treated under Flores and how he is being treated by his current Head Coach Mike McDaniel. The scale of the tumult that was going on in Miami towards the end of his tenure was uncovered as well and Flores sued the NFL in a case that is still being litigated.
Flores has recovered from his experience in Miami, and after a brief stint as an assistant in Pittsburgh, Flores went to Minnesota to lead the Vikings defense. Flores brought his aggressive style of blitzing and disguised coverages and it has worked wonders playing off Head Coach Kevin O’Connell. If the Chicago Bears decide to bring Flores in, his attitude and cultural magnitude will be key factors in selecting him over other potential coaches.
Detroit Lions DC Aaron Glenn
Opposite Ben Johnson on the Detroit coaching staff is Aaron Glenn. Glenn, the DC of the Lions, has burst onto the scene as a hot candidate for multiple jobs. Whereas Johnson has taken talented players and made them into one of the most prolific offenses in recent memory, Glenn has taken players from the scrap heap and turned his unit into a respectable defense. With 13 players on IR at the end of the regular season, Glenn’s defense relied on practice squad players and guys brought in off their couch to defend some of the best offenses in the league.
The Chicago Bears have requested to interview Glenn, but Glenn has ties to another job opening that may prove too hard to overcome. As a player, Glenn played in New Orleans with the Saints. With a job opening that features a winnable division and an opportunity to get out of the NFC North, Glenn might jump on the opportunity to coach the New Orleans Saints and turn down the Bears job.
Former Tennessee Titans HC Mike Vrabel
Mike Vrabel has been one of the most polarizing coaching candidates in the last couple of years since he was let go by the Tennessee Titans. The former Patriot has been linked to New England as a likely destination for his next head coaching gig. The way the Patriots have handled and seemingly expedited their coaching search after deciding to fire Jerod Mayo after just one season signals that Vrabel is their top target. The sides are inching closer to a reunion in Foxborough.
Having said that, Vrabel is still communicating with the Chicago Bears about their head coaching position and Vrabel would be a much-needed culture shifter for the team. He has gotten a reputation as an intense and demanding coach, some attributes missing from the Bears in the last couple of years under Matt Eberflus. Vrabel is near the top of the wish list for Chicago and if he doesn’t opt to return to the New England Patriots, or connect with Tom Brady in Las Vegas, he might take a closer look at the “Windy City.”
Dallas Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy
The Dallas Cowboys season ended earlier than their fans and the media hoped. After a disappointing and injury-plagued season, their offseason started when Chicago’s did and thus they are operating on the same timeline. McCarthy coached this year as a lame-duck head coach and his contract is set to expire next week. Despite conflicting messages from owner Jerry Jones about McCarthy’s future in Dallas, the Cowboys denied the Bears’ request to interview the Super Bowl champion coach. Chicago can interview him freely if he is not re-signed by next week.
McCarthy was once the bane of Chicago fans’ existence as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers and it would be jarring to see him patrolling the sidelines in the midnight blue. He also has years of experience in the league, an offensive mindset, and a proven track record of winning. That is something nobody in the Bears organization can say. If Dallas doesn’t retain McCarthy, the Bears could be serious contenders to bring in McCarthy. Even if that is looking too far out into the future, for now, they will interview him and hear what he has to say.
Baltimore Ravens OC Todd Monken
Todd Monken is the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. Monken is part of a coaching family that includes the head coach at Army, Jeff Monken, who led the Black Knights to a stellar season this year. Monken was the offensive coordinator at Georgia when they won back-to-back national championships, earning enough cache to jump up to the same position in the NFL. He was hired by the Baltimore Ravens when they parted ways with Greg Roman. Since arriving, Lamar Jackson has won an MVP and the Ravens are near the top of the league in offensive efficiency ratings.
Monken would be returning home if he became the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Monken grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and still has roots in the area. The 58-year-old has only had three seasons of head coaching experience in his life and they came in college at Southern Mississippi a decade ago. That means the learning curve for becoming the leader of a team could dissuade the Bears from taking Monken but his offensive production speaks for itself. For a team desperate to cultivate a franchise quarterback, Chicago might be willing to overlook those holes and hire Monken.
Former Seattle Seahawks HC Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll was pushed out of Seattle last season. Reports indicated that he was put in a difficult situation when it came to making changes to his coaching staff and style, deciding what his role with the Seahawks was going to be, and what he wanted to do with the rest of his football life. After spending a year on the campus of USC, Carroll is throwing his hat in the coaching ring again. Carroll, 73, is the oldest candidate for the Bears coaching job but brings plenty of energy and enthusiasm wherever he goes.
Carroll has multiple teams reaching out to him about taking their job so if the Bears want Carroll they might have to compete for him. Much like McCarthy, Carroll would be an appeal to experience and professionalism at the head coaching spot for a volatile locker room in Chicago. Combine that with a championship pedigree and a history of fostering growth in young quarterbacks and Carroll jumps out as a quality choice to be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears.
Chicago Bears Interim HC Thomas Brown
The current coach of the Chicago Bears Thomas Brown is in line to have his chance to retain the job during this cycle. Brown, who started this season as the passing game coordinator, moved up the food chain during the season. He took over as the offensive coordinator when Shane Waldron was fired and then as the head coach when Eberflus was fired. Brown showed promise as an offensive mind throughout the year but got overwhelmed by the duties of the lead man at times. He ended his interim stint as the coach this season with a win in Green Bay against the rival Packers, something that should bode well for his candidacy.
Brown’s meteoric rise in his first season in Chicago was more a result of incompetence above him than his merit. He thrived in his role as the offensive coordinator during the short time he had that role exclusively and despite the losing streak that dominated Chicago’s season, his ability to get production out of Williams was a huge gain for the Bears. That may not be enough to net him the job full-time, but Thomas Brown’s career is in much better shape after this season whether he lands the head coaching gig or not.
Buffalo Bills OC Joe Brady
Joe Brady is another offensive coordinator who drastically improved his stock during the year. Brady has been on the rise for years in football circles and his opportunity to get a head coaching job is getting closer and closer every day. It’s unclear if this year will see him jump over the coordinator hurdle but his brand of offense is going to be attractive enough to teams that they take a chance on him at the head coaching position.
Brady burst onto the national scene when he won a national championship as an assistant for the 2019 LSU Tigers led by Joe Burrow, a team that is largely accepted as one of the best college teams of the century. Brady’s role was so important that he won the Broyles Award for the season’s best assistant coach. From there Brady jumped to the pros where he became the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers and when his coaching staff was released, Brady migrated to Buffalo. After starting as the passing game coordinator, he is now the offensive coordinator of a team that may feature the NFL MVP.
Pittsburgh Steelers OC Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith has thrived as an offensive coordinator during his time in the NFL, almost always with minimal talent on the field. Smith was the offensive coordinator who took over for Matt LaFleur when he went to Green Bay and the offense improved. Smith was picked by the Atlanta Falcons in 2021 to become their head coach and his track record flipped. Atlanta had first-round picks littered on the field and the Falcons could never get them the ball. Combine the offensive struggles with below .500 records and Smith was fired after last season.
Smith landed on his feet though in Pittsburgh with the Steelers and his ability to get production out of less-talented players began to shine through again. For a team and an offense that was expected to be in the basement of their division and maybe even the league, Smith has helped power the Steelers to the playoffs. That put his name in the coaching ring in a bid for a second chance at running a team. The Chicago Bears are going to give him a chance to make his case and Smith could end up getting a second life as a head coach in the NFL.
Denver Broncos DC Vance Joseph
Vance Joseph would be another case of a former head coach getting another chance at leading a team if the Chicago Bears decide to hire him. Joseph is currently the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos under Sean Payton, and the coaching staff’s ability to overcome their salary restrictions this year to make it into the playoffs with a rookie quarterback is turning heads in NFL circles. Joseph’s defense is a big part of that, and after failing as the head man for the Broncos for two seasons, Joseph’s tenure as the defensive coordinator is making the Bears consider him for their head coaching position.
Joseph has been the defensive coordinator of three different teams in his coaching career and has impressed in each situation. His time in Denver as the head coach was marred by poor quarterback play, something that the Chicago Bears position doesn’t hope to have with Williams under center. It would be a gamble to bring in Joseph and bank on the fact that he has grown from his first coaching stint and that his two-year period as a head coach was made untenable by the quarterback position.
Washington Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury
The draw of Kliff Kingsbury to Chicago is an appeal to Williams. Kingsbury, the current offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders was an assistant on Lincoln Riley’s staff at USC while Williams was there. Kingsbury has shown flashes of being a great offensive mind but too often those flashes have come early in seasons before fading down the stretch. Kingsbury has been a head coach for nearly a decade between college and the NFL with Texas Tech coaching Patrick Mahomes and the Arizona Cardinals coaching Kyler Murray.
In his current role, Kingsbury is coaching rookie Quarterback Jayden Daniels. Daniels had arguably the best season for a rookie quarterback this year and has impressed fans in the DMV with his handling of the offense. With Dan Quinn, a defensive mind as head coach, the coaching of Daniels can be attributed to Kingsbury. He would be reuniting with Williams and trying to enhance his development for a franchise that has never had a great quarterback. If that draw is strong enough, it may make the Bears overlook some of the weaknesses that Kingsbury has shown in his head coaching career that got him fired in Arizona.
Iowa State Cyclones HC Matt Campbell
The rumors around Matt Campbell’s candidacy are swirling this week. Campbell has been the head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones since 2016 and has elevated them to heights rarely before seen by the program. This season the Cyclones won 11 games and were knocking on the doorstep of the CFP before losing in the Big 12 Championship Game to the Arizona State Sun Devils. That performance has left Campbell wanting a raise and the Chicago Bears might be obliging in helping him get it.
Campbell has been an impressive college coach but hasn’t been widely speculated as an NFL candidate in recent years. Campbell is most likely using this interview with the Chicago Bears as leverage for negotiating a better salary than his current $4 million in Ames. Hiring Campbell as head coach would be a risky move by the Bears considering that Campbell has zero NFL experience. The move would be in the hopes that Campbell’s ability to get more out of players and teams than the sum of their parts can be translated from Saturdays to Sundays.
Miami Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver
Anthony Weaver has bounced around in his NFL coaching career. In ten years he was an assistant coach for four different teams before finding a role as the leader of a unit. The Houston Texans made Weaver their defensive coordinator in 2020 but Weaver was relieved of his duties when a new coaching staff took over. Weaver had another chance as a DC this season in Miami with the Dolphins and rose to the occasion, coaching the defense to be number four in total defense in 2024. Weaver hasn’t been a widely discussed candidate this offseason but he is not new to the coaching carousel.
Before taking the job as the defensive coordinator of the Dolphins, Weaver was a finalist for the head coaching position in Washington, a job that ultimately went to Dan Quinn. Weaver had plenty of talent this year in Miami but they were a pretty banged up unit all season, making their top-five finish all the more impressive. Combine that with an offense that had inconsistent quarterback play for most of the year and the image of Weaver as the Chicago head coach begins to become clearer. Weaver is also in the running for the New Orleans Saints coaching vacancy.
Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing
Probably one of the least-known candidates in the Chicago Bears coaching search is Arizona Cardinals Offensive Coordinator Drew Petzing. Petzing is the lead offensive mind in Arizona with their head coach, Jonathan Gannon, spearheading the defense. The Cardinals may have missed the playoffs this season, but that is not hurting Petzing’s chances of getting an opportunity to lead the Bears.
The Arizona offense underwent an identity shift with Petzing at the helm. Their rushing attack ranked in the top five of the NFL despite a litany of injuries on the offensive line and no premier running back threat. James Conner saw a career resurgence with Petzing leading the offense and D’Andre Swift could be next in line if Petzing gets the job. The most attractive part of Petzing’s candidacy is what he could do for the Chicago Bears’ paltry offensive line that had Caleb Williams sacked 68 times in his rookie season. Fixing the offense up front is a pressing need and Drew Petzing might be the answer the Bears choose.
New York Giants OC Mike Kafka
Mike Kafka coaching the Chicago Bears would be a hometown story. Kafka is from the area and played quarterback at Northwestern before getting into coaching. The interview with Kafka can be viewed in multiple ways. The current offensive coordinator for the New York Giants can’t flaunt a dynamic or productive offense as reason enough to hire him as the head coach. You have to go back to Kafka’s time in Kansas City to find a team he was coaching that lit up the scoreboard. The problem is that in neither spot was Kafka the leading offensive mind.
The connection for Kafka to the Bears runs through GM Ryan Poles. Kafka and Poles both come from Kansas City and could be pining for a reunion in Poles’ first true coaching search. Kafka may be open to becoming an offensive coordinator for the Bears, should they go with a defensive-minded head coach, giving Kafka his first opportunity to lead his offense. The possibility for Kafka to become a head coach is not out of the question, though. He has interviewed for other coaching vacancies around the league besides the Chicago Bears.
David Shaw
David Shaw is most well-known in football circles as the head coach of Stanford, a post he held for over a decade. Currently, Shaw is in the Denver Broncos front office working as a senior personnel executive. The coaching itch is expected to draw Shaw back to the sideline at some point and teams are starting to reach out to Shaw for interviews. The Bears and Saints have requested interviews with Shaw and while his most popular work was in college, he does have NFL experience.
Shaw’s background in offense got him jobs on pro staffs before he went back to college and joined Stanford. His strong culture of accountability is a massive plus for the Chicago Bears, a team bereft of that for years. Shaw may be just dipping his toe back into the head coaching pool this year so his candidacy is seen as a long shot. With that said, he is more than capable of leading a team. At the very least, hearing what Shaw has to say about the broken Chicago Bears should be informative.
Final Thoughts
The number of candidates the Chicago Bears are considering is impressive, especially considering how other teams are conducting their coaching searches. Because the Bears won’t open up the checkbook and compete with other teams to pay coaches at the top of the market, they will be behind the 8-ball from the start. The instability of the front office and ownership won’t be enticing to candidates either, meaning that the optics of interviewing all of these people won’t match the likely outcome of the search.
They will not end up with one of the hot commodities like Johnson or Vrabel. In all likelihood, this coaching search will resemble the last one the Chicago Bears made that ended with Matt Eberflus being named head coach.
I’m preparing for Anthony Weaver, Vance Joseph, Mike Kafka, or some candidate we have yet to hear from to be the next coach of the Chicago Bears. They might be a solid leader but won’t shake up the culture at Halas Hall and the team will be looking for a new coach within the next five years. All I can hope for is that this coach’s tenure ends better than Eberflus’ did.
