Windy City Gridiron
Of the two early front runners for the Bears’ head coach job, what’s your preference?
The Chicago Bears season has been flushed down the drain thanks to their current 7-game losing streak. Thanks to this dead-end season and the dismissal of Matt Eberflus, the next head coach is all the fans can talk about. It’s not just the fans, the media can’t stop talking about it. It’s early, but two names keep bubbling up to the surface in every conversation.
The fan base is split. Some of them want the offensive mind in Ben Johnson and want to put him with Caleb Williams and let them cook together. The idea holds merit.
Many of the others from the fan base look to Mike Vrabel. They want the leader of men, the guy who would bust some heads and change the culture at Halas Hall. The idea holds merit.
Unfortunately, there’s not a candidate that is a culture changer like Vrabel and an offensive guy like Johnson, that guy was probably Jim Harbaugh but the Bears would, d have had to make a push for that last season and they chose not to (and it’s possible they couldn’t have beaten the LA Chargers anyway).
My answer: I fully understand why Vrabel is needed at Halas Hall. The culture there is broken. How the players performed after Eberflus was fired was alarming. With a team with plenty of veteran leadership, the fact that they couldn’t rally themselves, even after they professed how much they loved Thomas Brown, certainly points to an issue in the locker room.
There isn’t a winning culture at Halas Hall, and they need to instill one. Vrabel is certainly a guy who won’t take any guff from anyone, will get players in line, and will have the locker room act like a professional football team. It makes sense.
While I admit the culture change is needed, the solution to turning the Bears franchise around is ensuring they have an elite quarterback. They have a QB with the talent to become that guy, but they need the right guy to guide him. Is Vrabel that guy? I don’t think he is. I can’t see him connecting with a 23-year-old QB and getting the most out of him.
I know he’s had success with his offensive coordinators but he hasn’t been perfect with his hires. For his hires of Matt LaFleur and Arthur Smith, he also hired Todd Downing and Tim Kelly (Who?). There’s no guarantee that Vrabel will bring in the right coordinator to work with Williams. It’s simply too much of a risk.
We have seen what Ben Johnson has done offensively. We have seen what he’s done with Jared Goff. Sean McVay was considered the best offensive mind in the sport and McVay had to jettison Goff because he didn’t think he could win with him....
