Lining Up Early Candidates

[soulman]

Lining Up Early Candidates

Originally posted on FanNation Bear Digest
By Gene Chamberlain  |  Last updated 11/27/21

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/lining_up_early_candidates/s1_16634_36563783?utm_source=mb&utm_medium=email&mb_edition=20211128&mb_loc=right_h

If the Bears do wind up where their season appears headed, the Matt Nagy firing reports of this past week will only be considered premature rather than false.

Whatever the Bears do next needs to be aimed at Justin Fields. The next coach needs to be someone with a history of success with inexperienced quarterbacks, one who can help bring along this gift which fell into GM Ryan Pace's lap.

Numerous names will pop up on potential lists across the internet and already have in some cases.

Among those who should be immediately disqualified are any of those with past ties to the New Orleans Saints based solely on Ryan Pace's ties to that franchise.

Those days were a very long time ago, and anyone who observes the NFL knows the success of the Saints can be traced entirely back to two people. One of those is now in a broadcast booth and the other is Sean Payton.

So unless they've found a way to bring Payton to Chicago, they should take a pass here. This includes Carolina offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who has proven nothing yet as the OC for a sub-.500 team.

Similarly scratch Kellen Moore of the Dallas Cowboys, a popular name now.

Dallas is ranked first in the NFL on offense and has more weapons than several entire divisions do. They should be No. 1.

Besides, the Cowboys head coach is an offensive mind who knows virtually nothing about defense and so Moore is more a caretaker than coordinator.

Also there for the scratching should be Eric Bieniemy and Mike Kafka. One Andy Reid disciple was quite enough to show that offense only works with Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill. Reid needed to be a head coach a quarter of a century before winning a Super Bowl and required those two players to do so.

However, there are two Reid disciples who should be potential hires.

After seeing Nagy fail when he had no experience as head coach, and John Fox a proven experienced winner who no longer really cared, the Bears could use a proven winner with experience who does care.

For that reason, one prime candidate who should be contacted is Doug Pederson. The man should still be coaching in Philadelphia after the spectacular job he did.

He's also a good friend of Nagy's and, as such, would seem highly unlikely to ever come calling for this job.

The other Chiefs coach worth hiring is one the Bears never should have let out of town in 2012. Dave Toub needs to be a head coach somewhere but being a special teams coordinator means always battling the prejudice of personnel bosses and owners against such coaches.

Buffalo's Brian Daboll surely will attract attention as a coach who brought along a young quarterback, although he did struggle mightily with the Bills and elsewhere before talent levels at receiver picked up.

The name of Byron Leftwich keeps rising but Bruce Arians' offensive success comes largely from his own doing. It's always been that way. He was succeeding before Leftwich and Leftwich wasn't succeeding in Arizona without Arians, a firing victim with the league's worst offense in the Steve Wilks regime.

There is one name out there who comes from a proven winner, who is performing miracles with a young quarterback and actually has head coaching experience.

He would be the ideal candidate.

Josh McDaniels is about as big of a no-brainer as there is in a potential Bears coaching hunt.

Greg Braggs Jr.

 

@GBraggsJr23

 

I'd take Harbaugh a heartbeat. Knows the pressure of being a leader of a program like Michigan. Knows what it's like to be the Head Coach of a team that went to a Super Bowl.  Knows how to groom a QB like Kaepernick.  Knows what it's like to be QB of the Bears.

 

DaBearsBlog

 

@dabearsblog

· 20h

Once again, Harbaugh has his team ready to go and some dopey guy playing QB for him will blow it.

10:42 AM · Nov 27, 2021 from St John, IN·Twitter for Android

 

He has enough rings credited to someone else and needs to be out on his own now winning one himself. Bill Belichick didn't win those six Super Bowl rings with only his defense. Tom Brady and McDaniels had big hands in it.

There is always the old Belichick jinx they say plagues his assistants when they become head coaches, and they point at Matt Patricia above all others. 

McDaniels didn't excel on his first head coaching venture in Denver, but first he had the Jay Cutler fiasco. As it turned out, McDaniels had the right idea about Cutler. But saddling McDaniels with Tim Tebo and Kyle Orton as his quarterbacks and then firing him sounds like a totally rigged game. McDaniels being jettisoned by that organization was more of an escape than a firing.

WOLFE

 

@WhatsWolfe

 

Head Coach: Jim Harbaugh

DC: Vic Fangio

OC: Kellen Moore

GM: Louis Riddick

Dream coaching team for Chicago Bears.

 

1:53 PM · Nov 27, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

 

 

The Belichick connection did produce Mike Vrabel and even Bill O'Brien was a successful head coach with only one losing record for a full season until he decided he should start trading away good talent. He proved then he was a coach, not a GM.

One problem the Bears could have is meeting McDaniels' asking price because he could always decide to stay put and keep working with Mac Jones until Belichick retires, and then simply inherit the team himself. 

Another problem is McDaniels actually was interviewed by the Bears and came in behind Nagy when they had the last coaching search. Would he hold this against them?

The McCaskeys need to make it worth his while and whether they will fork it out is always an uncertainty.

Chicago has been through a lot, and if there is no late-season miracle finish for the current Bears then next season's team should be headed up by the surest possible candidate.

As long as he didn't insist on bringing along Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels is that person.

Edited November 28, 2021 by soulman

[Sugashane]

With Harbaugh I wonder what his staff would look like.

 

Likely brings his son Jay for ST coach

For OC Roman is out, he's going to get a HC gig soon IMO. So does he try to take James Urban from BUF since he has been Roman's protege and his work with Lamar Jackson? Or Mike Solari since he was the OL coach and his offenses typically relied on powerful bullies in the trenches? 

DC has a ton of choices too. Like Jim Leavitt was his LB coach in SF, Tomsula could be a DC for him, or if Fangio would get axed he would be a top name. Donatell would be following him as well I'd imagine.

 

He could definitely put a staff together.

 

 

McDaniels has NE's offense rolling again. He would be a villain but in Chicago some of our favorites players have been villains everywhere else. Rodman, Noah, Sosa (I'm a Cardinals fan so I hated him  lol   he may have been loved nationally IDK), etc. I'd be fine with him being OUR villain if he can do well here.

[abstract_thought]

3 hours ago, Sugashane said:

With Harbaugh I wonder what his staff would look like.

Likely brings his son Jay for ST coach

For OC Roman is out, he's going to get a HC gig soon IMO. So does he try to take James Urban from BUF since he has been Roman's protege and his work with Lamar Jackson? Or Mike Solari since he was the OL coach and his offenses typically relied on powerful bullies in the trenches? 

DC has a ton of choices too. Like Jim Leavitt was his LB coach in SF, Tomsula could be a DC for him, or if Fangio would get axed he would be a top name. Donatell would be following him as well I'd imagine.

Fangio seems like the ideal DC. Mike McDonald and Jay Rodgers might be alternatives.

OC is more of a mystery. Pep Hamilton is a more experienced option. Urban deserves a shot IMO.

[JAF-N72EX]

Wait? So first the author suggests this.....

Quote

"Among those who should be immediately disqualified are any of those with past ties to the New Orleans Saints based solely on Ryan Pace's ties to that franchise."

 

But then suggests this......

Quote

"However, there are two Reid disciples who should be potential hires.

For that reason, one prime candidate who should be contacted is Doug Pederson."

Quote

The man should still be coaching in Philadelphia after the spectacular job he did.

Sigh.......and then this gem.

Did this writer completely forget when Pederson benched his starting QB in the 4th Q during a one score game, at home, against a division rival on national TV in favor of Nate freakin Sudfeld?! He embarrassed himself while simultaneously pissing off the entire locker room.

Could you imagine playing GB at Soldier Field on SNF and watch Pederson bench Fields in the 4th Q down by only 6 points?

His SB run was clearly an anomaly. Keep him as far away from Fields as possible.

 

[soulman]

18 hours ago, soulman said:

McDaniels didn't excel on his first head coaching venture in Denver, but first he had the Jay Cutler fiasco. As it turned out, McDaniels had the right idea about Cutler. But saddling McDaniels with Tim Tebo and Kyle Orton as his quarterbacks and then firing him sounds like a totally rigged game. McDaniels being jettisoned by that organization was more of an escape than a firing.

This needs a major correction.  McD saddled himself with Orton and Tebow not the other way around.  It's true that Cutler didn't fit McD's offense but Cutler was drafted for Shanahan's offense where he was a perfect fit.  The issue should never be made that this was Cutler's fault.  He and Cutler were bound to clash because Cutler is not the type of QB McD wants. 

That said neither is Justin Fields.  McD would also have clashed with Aaron Rodgers as well so IMHO if McD was hired to coach the Bears once again we'd have a HC matched with a QB whom he didn't select and who is also not a perfect fit for his offense.  IMHO we need to look past who or what Josh McDaniels has done and look at whether he's a match for Justin Fields and also IMHO he is not.

[soulman]

12 hours ago, Sugashane said:

With Harbaugh I wonder what his staff would look like.

 

Likely brings his son Jay for ST coach

For OC Roman is out, he's going to get a HC gig soon IMO. So does he try to take James Urban from BUF since he has been Roman's protege and his work with Lamar Jackson? Or Mike Solari since he was the OL coach and his offenses typically relied on powerful bullies in the trenches? 

DC has a ton of choices too. Like Jim Leavitt was his LB coach in SF, Tomsula could be a DC for him, or if Fangio would get axed he would be a top name. Donatell would be following him as well I'd imagine.

 

He could definitely put a staff together.

 

 

McDaniels has NE's offense rolling again. He would be a villain but in Chicago some of our favorites players have been villains everywhere else. Rodman, Noah, Sosa (I'm a Cardinals fan so I hated him  lol   he may have been loved nationally IDK), etc. I'd be fine with him being OUR villain if he can do well here.

I believe you could make a case for Harbaugh and his ability to assemble a staff but will Harbaugh even make himself available and if so would the Bears pay his price?

He's making $4 mil a year as base salary.  He can earn an additional $4 mil give or take in incentives of which he should earn about half that this year and possibly as much as $3 mil should UM win the national championship (doubtful).  It will also cost $1.5 mil for him to buy himself out of his deal with Michigan which he would almost certainly want to be paid by the Bears.

Harbaugh has a rep of battling with owners and his GM.  Would any of that change in Chicago?

Wolfe's dream team may look nice on paper but I think it's no more than that.  A dream.

[soulman]

All I can say is virtually every one of these high flying OC types have had their struggles somewhere or like Kellen Moore they're coaching a dream offense talent wise.  The Bears are anything but that and while it's possible we may finally have added enough talent to the OL to look at the possibility of a vast improvement there it will also take much better coaching and much better scheme to get max benefit from them.

We also need to rebuild the WR core with at least one pricey UFA and a high 2022 draft choice.  Mike Gallup and Chris Olave maybe?  Then on top of this we need to hope for once we can stay healthy enough to keep all of these guys on the field for the majority of a 17 game season when we've seldom been able to do that recently.  And that's just the offensive issues any HC will need to face while simultaneously making certain that Justin Fields is being proper developed into a franchise QB.

So is what we need really another HC/OC or instead should be looking at those positions having as much separation as possible so we don't end up with another Matt Nagy kind of deal.  Wouldn't it be far better to have a top notch HC whose focused on developing the overall talent level of the entire team not just the offense and the QB?  That's why you hire a top OC and QB coach and let them build an offense around the skill set of the QB and deliver that to the HC whose job it is to be a strong leader and a very good game day game manager which of course Nagy is not.

We've already traveled this road of hiring a "hot OC" and what did it get us?  We got a guy who looked good as a disciple of his HC (much like McD) but failed when given a HC job (much like McD).  If I'm looking at HC prospects I'm also looking at guys who aren't much the same as Matt Nagy was when we hired him.  That street has a lot of pot holes so maybe try a different street.  Stop fixating on the need for a HC to develop Justin Fields and focus on a guy who can develop and build the entire team.  He can find his OC and QB coach and they can develop Fields.

I've been watching this exercise in mock HC hiring go on and everyone here seems fixated on hiring another Matt Nagy.  I'm going down a different road and saying we need to find the best HC prospect period.  I don't really care what his "specialty" is all I care about is that he can be the kind of strong leader and motivator I believe the Bears need.  Whatever he isn't all that good at he can bring in staff who can fill in those gaps just as other successful HC have done since time began.  Halas was a master at that and so have been many others.  Just hire a good coach period.

[HuskieBear]

On 11/28/2021 at 7:32 AM, soulman said:

Similarly scratch Kellen Moore of the Dallas Cowboys, a popular name now.

Dallas is ranked first in the NFL on offense and has more weapons than several entire divisions do. They should be No. 1.

Besides, the Cowboys head coach is an offensive mind who knows virtually nothing about defense and so Moore is more a caretaker than coordinator.

LMAO

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

54 minutes ago, HuskieBear said:

LMAO

Laugh all you want, but that guy watched a ****LOAD of Packer's games; bound to pick up something

[soulman]

1 hour ago, HuskieBear said:

LMAO

That was the authors comment not mine and yet Moore does have an advantage of having extremely talented offensive personnel and a HC with a .618 winning percentage and a Super Bowl ring coaching in GB.  He could be good or he could end up being Matt Nagy v2.0.

[JAF-N72EX]

On 11/29/2021 at 1:04 PM, RunningVaccs said:

Laugh all you want, but that guy watched a ****LOAD of Packer's games; bound to pick up something

So did Mike Pettine and look at our defense.....oh wait....