Bears Compile Lengthy List of Head Coaching Candidates

Good morning Chicago fans! If you like football and have a pulse, well, you might make the list of head coaching candidates for the Bears! I’m sure you all had an excellent Sunday seeing the Packers lose yet another playoff game.

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JUMP TO YOUR TEAM

• Blackhawks

• Bulls

• Bears

• Cubs

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

W - Blackhawks 3, Avalanche 1

Finally an impressive win on national TV!

• Petr Mrazek looked like his old self and stopped 35 of 36 shots

• Colton Dach scored his first NHL point with an assist on Frank Nazar’s first goal of the season

• Connor Bedard was robbed of two goals: one was called a kick, and another was barely deflected on its way to the empty net. He still had 1 goal and 1 assist!

L - Red Wings 5, Blackhawks 3

Absolute dominance by the Wings and old friends

• Old friends had a great game: Patrick Kane had 3 assists, Alex DeBrincat had 1 goal and 1 assist

• Hawks only managed 15 shots on goal

• Teuvo Teravainen scored 2 goals

L - Oilers 4, Blackhawks 3

Stan Bowman and Corey Perry revenge game

• Hawks blew a 2-0 lead and were outshot 34-22

• Perry scored the game-tying goal in the 2nd period

• Bedard and McDavid were held off the scoreboard in the battle of the Connors

Star of the Week ⭐ Teuvo Teravainen

3 goals, 2 assists

Play of the Week 🎥 Connor Bedard to Ryan Donato goal

Activated Alec Martinez from IR, placed Connor Murphy on IR

Connor Bedard had a career-high 9 game point streak - the streak ended with the Oilers game

Frank Nazar was named to the AHL All Star team!

CHICAGO BULLS

W - Bulls 114, Spurs 110

Coby White posterized Victor Wembanyama for an electric win!

• Bulls finished on an 11-0 run to complete a 19-point comeback

• Coby (23p) sealed the deal, but Zach LaVine (35p/8a/10r) put on a show to climb back into the game

L - Pacers 129, Bulls 113

Embarrassing blowout from tip off

• First half was brutal: down 63-44, shot 4/17 from 3PT 🤢

• Patrick Williams had 2 points on 0-5 shooting in 21 minutes, Josh Giddey had 5 turnovers in 22 minutes, and Chris Duarte saw early minutes as Billy Donovan tried to find answers

• Bulls were down by 34 in the 3rd quarter

W - Bulls 138, Wizards 105

Redemption win against the Wizards!

• Bulls had a season high 39 assists, shot 53/95 (55.8%) FG, shot 23/49 (46.9%) 3PT

• LaVine scored 33 points, Nikola Vucevic (23p/13r) and Giddey (12p/13r) each had a double-double

L - Kings 124, Bulls 119

Kings outlasted the Bulls in DeMar DeRozan’s return to Chicago

• DeRozan scored 12 of his 21 points in the 4th quarter 👑

• Lonzo Ball started for the first time this season and scored 15 points on five 3-pointers

• LaVine (36p/10r) had his 6th straight 30-point game

Star of the Week ⭐ Zach LaVine

33.8p/4.8a/7.3r per game, 51/90 (56.7%) shooting

Play of the Week 🎥 Coby White dunk on Wemby

Patrick Williams is shooting 29.0% and averaging 5.6 points per game in January…

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

Head coach candidates:

Mike Vrabel*, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Pete Carroll, Mike Kafka, Drew Petzing, Anthony Weaver, Ron Rivera, Joe Brady, Matt Campbell, Brian Flores, Todd Monken, Thomas Brown, Kliff Kingsbury, Arthur Smith, David Shaw, Marcus Freeman

*Mike Vrabel was already hired by the New England Patriots

17 names!!! And the list continues to grow. The Bears are proud of “casting a wide net” in this search, but I didn’t think it would be this big of a net.

I wanted Vrabel, but he’s already off the table. Ben Johnson has to be the next best option and the priority moving forward. The first round of virtual interviews started on Wednesday, but the Bears are only about halfway through their list of requested candidates. This will be a dragged out process…

My top candidates, in order:

Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Joe Brady, Todd Monken, Pete Carroll

Even though an offensive-minded coach is intriguing and probably the most logical approach to this process, my most important qualifications are competence and being respected by the team.

So many coaches are great at one thing or average at many things, but being extremely sharp with all the details is necessary as a head coach. I’m sick of average coordinators getting the promotion and finding themselves in over their head (like Flus…).

This job opening in Chicago is also extremely unique. There are culture problems throughout the NFL, and there are sad franchises who have not won in a really long time. Still, Halas Hall is a different animal. The inability to function as an organization and the ability to look like a youth football team on the field has only increased over the last 15 years. The Bears are broken, and unfortunately the new head coach has to carry that weight on their shoulders.

Cowboys denied the Bears request to interview their current HC Mike McCarthy

Bears representatives on this iteration of the head coach interview committee:

Ryan Poles, Kevin Warren, George McCaskey, Jeff King, Matt Feinstein, Liz Geist

Bears who may be in the running for other jobs around the league:

Thomas Brown - Seahawks OC, Matt Eberflus - Bengals DC, Ian Cunningham - Titans GM

Signed players to reserve/future contracts:

OL Theo Benedet, OL Chris Glaser, WR John Jackson, LB Carl Jones, DL Jamree Kromah, QB Austin Reed, OL Ricky Stromberg, WR Samori Toure, TE Joel Wilson, TE Jordan Murray

Josh Blackwell was named NFC Special Teams player of the week for his punt return TD 🏅

CHICAGO CUBS

OFFSEASON

Traded for RHP Matt Festa from the Texas Rangers for cash considerations

• Festa has ties to Tread Athletics and recent Cubs hire Tyler Zombro

• Another shot in the dark at acquiring a quality bullpen arm for 2025

• Festa has bounced around AAA and MLB with multiple teams and only appeared in 19 MLB games last season. He has a career 2.04 ERA and 10.2 K/9 in AAA.

Signed RHP Colin Rea to a 1-year, $5M contract with a club option for 2026

• Rea is another starter/long relief option on a Cubs team with plenty. I know depth is important, but I’m not sure investing another $5M on a fringe pitcher like this makes sense.

• He pitched for the Cubs in 2020 and has since been on the Brewers. He will reunite with Craig Counsell!

• Started 27 games last season and finished with a 4.29 ERA and 4.75 FIP 😐

Arbitration: Agreed to terms with Justin Steele, Nate Pearson, and Eli Morgan for 2025 and avoided arbitration. Cubs and Kyle Tucker did not agree on a salary and will continue with the arbitration process (Tucker filed at $17.5M, Cubs filed at $15M).

Old friend Jorge Lopez signed a 1-year contract with the Washington Nationals. He was great for the Cubs (24 G, 2.03 ERA) last season, and it’s too bad he won’t be returning.

DFA’d Miles Mastrobuoni

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Jevon Carter

Carter and his foundation Treadmill Mentality serve families in Chicago!

MILD TAKE

Patrick Williams is Patrick Williams…and it’s time to give up.

Have you ever seen a player look the exact same in his NBA debut and in his 5th year in the league?

After a week consisting of two 2-point performances and dreadful shooting percentages, the truth about Patrick Williams continues to ring loudly in my ear.

I was excited about the extension he signed over the summer. It seemed like a good deal for a very young player who could shoot the 3 and was a good defender. Basketball players can take a long time to develop, too. Why would you give up on someone so early?

The Bulls have received a ton of warranted criticism about choosing Williams #4 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. He was, of course, Arturas Karnisovas’ first draft pick for the Bulls and would define the direction of his tenure. Tyrese Haliburton, Tyrese Maxey, and many other successful NBA players were left on the board.

Since Williams endured major injuries in his 2nd and 4th years, giving him a longer leash to develop seemed reasonable. Give him full seasons in the NBA and a more realistic chance to become a confident player.

It’s more apparent than ever that he has been the exact same player for 5 years now:

Billy Donovan has talked so many times about Patrick Williams needing to be more aggressive. It’s always the same message. He needs to believe in himself, he needs confidence, he needs to attack the rim…and nothing has ever changed.

I have no reason to believe Patrick Williams will improve beyond his 10 point 4 rebound averages as an NBA player. It might be time to throw him into a trade with a team who thinks they can unlock him.

HITTING THE LINKS

Scott Powers - What I’m hearing about the Blackhawks (The Athletic)

Ben Pope - Philipp Kurashev's awful season likely will spell end of Blackhawks tenure (Chicago Sun-Times)

Adam Jahns - An inside look at how Caleb Williams developed (The Athletic)

Sahadev Sharma - Meet Tyler Zombro, the latest young executive the Cubs have added (The Athletic)

Scott Powers - 41 thoughts on the Blackhawks after 41 games (The Athletic)

Chicago Bears - Old School, New School: Kevin Byard III x Charles Tillman (YouTube)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! Have a great week, and keep an eye out for the Bears interviews with candidates 18 through 100. They have until September, right?