Yahoo Sports The Athletic has bold prediction for Bears' next head coach
The Chicago Bears are in the thick of their head coach search to replace Matt Eberflus, who was fired after a brutal Thanksgiving loss. Chicago certainly has cast a wide net that has reached 20 candidates with various backgrounds, including offensive and defensive minded coordinators, former head coaches and college coaches.
The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt did his best to predict where certain candidates will land in this NFL coaching cycle, and his pick for the Bears was shocking considering Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and former Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy have emerged as the frontrunners.
Rosenblatt believes former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll could wind up in Chicago.
If the Bears are looking for a proven leader, there isn’t a better candidate than Carroll. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is the sexiest name of this cycle (as he was for the last one), but nobody knows what sort of leader he’ll be as a head coach. Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is an obvious candidate because of his ties to Williams from USC, but Kingsbury was underwhelming as the Arizona Cardinals head coach. Ron Rivera has past experience and was a winner in Carolina, but the Commanders struggled under his watch.
Yes, Carroll is 73, but he is known for his youthful energy. He had a great run in Seattle, never winning fewer than seven games in a season, making the playoffs 10 times in 14 years and winning the Super Bowl in 2013.
Carroll, 72, was reported to express interest in the Bears' coaching vacancy, and the feeling is mutual. After parting ways with Seattle last offseason, he would like to return to the sideline after a year off. Carroll spent 14 years as the head coach of the Seahawks, which includes leading them to a 137-89-1 record, 10 postseason appearances and a Super Bowl XLVIII championship.
Carroll doesn't fit the offensive-minded head coach mold that the Bears could be looking for to develop quarterback Caleb Williams. While he definitely is that "leader of men" type and has won a Super Bowl, a developmental plan for Williams will be key.
This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: The Athletic has bold prediction for Bears' next head coach
