Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears have a huge list, just how likely is each candidate?
Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles has compiled an extensive list for their search for a new head coach. Thus far, 15 names have been requested to be interviewed, and more could be added.
We take a shot at ranking the coaches from least likely to most likely as the Bears' next head coach.
Interim coach Thomas Brown beat the Green Bay Packers, but other than that, he didn’t do anything to show the Bears’ brass that he can handle the job. You can argue the Bears got worse after Matt Eberflus’ departure. This is simply not going to be the direction the Bears go.
Ten years ago, Shaw was a hot candidate, and plenty of NFL teams were interested in the Stanford coach, and he always chose to remain in college. Shaw is only 52, but he hasn’t coached in two years, and his last several years at Stanford were not good. This is not the same coach that went to a major bowl in 4 of 5 years with Stanford.
Is this actually a serious candidate? I can’t see it as one. Poles and Kafka know each other from Kansas City, and after a brutal season with the New York Giants, I think Poles is doing Kafka a favor and trying to keep his name elevated as a potential head coaching candidate, nothing more.
This would be another candidate that would surprise me. Arthur Smith did not have much success as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons but did get a lot out of Russell Wilson this year as Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator. He is still going to need some more time in a coordinator role before he should be pursued again as a head coach.
Petzing is an interesting candidate and the arrow is pointing up for him as a potential future head coach. I feel like it still might be a year or two yearly for Petzing who had a couple of warts down the stretch with Kyler Murray and the offense. If his offense continues to evolve, he could be a top candidate in 2026.
I’ve heard Kingsbury’s interview for the offensive coordinator position wasn’t exactly a home run, and we are still a little too close to the flop he had with the Arizona Cardinals as a head coach. I also think Kingsburgy is pretty happy in Washington, and I don’t know if he’s chomping at the bit to get back into head coaching. I think he may wait another year or two before he really looks into making that jump once again.
I think the list starts getting a little harder to handicap over the next few spots. I think Carroll makes a lot of sense. He’s an established coach, he’s...
