Bears Mailbag - What's Up With The Coaching Search?

The Chicago Bears officially moved on from the John Fox Era when the calendar flipped to 2018. News about Fox's firing leaked early on the morning of January 1st, and the Bears officially announced that they had parted ways with the embattled coach shortly thereafter. General manager Ryan Pace, along with Ted Phillips and George McCaskey, held a press conference that afternoon, thanking Fox for his contributions the last three years and laying out the next steps. That conference kicked off what looks to be one of the more exciting Bears offseasons in recent memory, thanks to the coaching search that would aim to make Mitch Trubisky a star -- and put the Bears back on the map of contention. So naturally, in this latest edition of Bears Mailbag, most fans asked about the upcoming search that will define this franchise's direction for the forseeable future. It was fun answering them. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.

This is a hard question. My preference in general would be to get an offensive minded head coach for the sake of stability for Mitch Trubisky. But from what I see, Matt Patricia, the defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, might arguably be the best overall coach. And Pace, in his presser, said they will evaluate each candidate regardless of background. Though, interestingly, the Bears are not reportedly yet linked to Patricia. If they go with a non-offensive head coach, then the coordinators and assistant coaches that they hire will play very large roles. In the end, I do think the Bears will end up hiring an offensive-minded head coach, which would play to my preference. So here's my guess/hope (note, the coordinators don't matter to me as much at this stage). HC: John DeFilippo OC: Greg Olson / Matt LaFleur / Jim Caldwell DC: Chuck Pagano / Rex Ryan / Mike Pettine

If there's one thing that we know about Ryan Pace, it's that he's as detailed and methodical as they come. He won't leave any stones unturned during this coaching search in his effort to find the Captain of this ship. He's already requested interviews with four offensive minded and three defensive minded coaches, with surely more to come. It proves that he's not willing to narrow the field from the start -- he wants to ensure he's spoken to and gathered as much information from as many candidates as possible. You're right in saying that patience is paramount when waiting to interview coaches on teams who are in the playoffs. But I think Pace will have enough to see this through the right way. Remember, this is his only remaining shot in Chicago. He's taken whom he believes is a future star at QB. If he gets the coach right, the Bears will be good for a decade. If he doesn't, he's out. Don't forget, he had the patience to stick with John Fox for seven more agonizingly long games after the Green Bay / Brett Hundley disaster. He'll wait another month if he needs to to get this right.

I love Matt Patricia as a head coaching candidate. In fact, he might be favorite overall candidate as far as his ability to lead, coach, pay attention to detail, and adapt his game plan to the situation/opponent. The guy is literally a rocket scientist, and a damn good football coach. My SM colleague, Erik Lambert, did a detailed profile and convincing pitch on Patricia as the next HC for the Bears -- you can read it here. What's interesting is that the Bears are not yet linked to Patricia -- they have not yet reportedly put in an interview request with the Patriots to speak with him. I'm guessing that will change. I'd be very surprised if they weren't interested in at least talking to him. After all, they ARE heading to New England this week to speak with their OC, Josh McDaniels. And Patricia, in my opinion, is a better HC candidate. I doubt DeFilippo would be allowed to leave Philadelphia unless it was for a head coaching position. Teams can block interview requests for coaches under contract unless it's for a promotion to at least an assistant head coach. The Eagles are terrified of losing DeFilippo. If any team wants to hire him, they'll have to make him their head coach.

I don't think it's fair to say Josh McDaniels is entirely a product of his circumstances in New England. Yes, he's been under Bill Belichick and has had Tom Brady run his offense for years. But he did have Matt Cassel lead the Patriots to an 11-5 record the year Brady tore his ACL. And he helped make Jimmy Garoppolo a star after two NFL starts, prompting a trade to San Francisco. He's also dealt with a revolving door at running back and wide receiver with different strengths and weaknesses and has adapted his offense to accommodate each time. That's not easy to do, no matter who your quarterback is. Yes, McDaniels had a terrible run in Denver when he infamously essentially bullied Jay Cutler out of town. But that was a decade ago. He's had a decade to mature since then. Holding that against him at this stage wouldn't be fair either. You can guarantee every team will ask him about his Denver experience, and you can also guarantee McDaniels has learned from it and will demonstrate as much. Also, McDaniels's offense would be a great fit for Mitch Trubisky. You have to believe Ryan Pace is keeping things like that in mind. McDaniels isn't my favorite candidate, but he's certainly worth exploring.

Ryan Pace has preached about always drafting the best player available ("BPA") period, not just based on need. Of course, that's subjective to every team's own scouting methodology, personnel evaluation, and rankings. So the BPA for the Bears may not be the BPA for some other team. Saquon Barkley is without a doubt one of the best talents in this draft. Depending on how Pace stacks his board, there's definitely a chance that Barkley could be the BPA on his board if available when the Bears pick at #8. But Barkley is a running back, and the Bears already do have one of the best runners in the league in Jordan Howard along with one of the most electric backs in the league in Tarik Cohen. And while a team can never have too many playmakers, going with Barkley could be overkill. This is where the Bears would need to make a decision. If Barkley is graded so much higher than the next best player on their board, it would probably make sense to try to trade down with a team that's dead set on getting Barkley, recoup some picks, and then take another player later on at a commensurate value point. But it will depend entirely on Pace's board, which won't start to take better shape until after the Scouting Combine. If I'm a betting man, though, I don't think there's any chance Barkley is available at 8. The Browns have the first and fourth overall picks in the draft. My guess is they go QB at 1 and Barkley at 4.

I don't think there's any chance of Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan. And in all honesty, I don't think there's a very good chance of Vic Fangio staying in Chicago, either. Fangio turned down a contract extension earlier this year, and it's reported that he's unhappy in Chicago and would prefer to return to the Bay Area. Oakland is currently assembling a coaching staff for presumptive head coach Jon Gruden, and I'm sure San Francisco would be open to making their defensive coordinator spot available for Fangio, too. The only way I could see the Bears retaining Fangio is if they made him the head coach. They interviewed him yesterday, but I think that was more out of respect for Fangio than it was any real interest in him as head coach. Make no mistake, the Bears want him back (as defensive coordinator). But it seems unlikely that Fangio will end up being back.