Here we go again. For the fifth time since firing Lovie Smith after the 2012 season, the Chicago Bears are searching for a new head coach.
The team fired Matt Eberflus on Friday and named offensive coordinator Thomas Brown the interim head coach.
General manager Ryan Poles is expected to run the search for a permanent replacement. And that starts with Brown, who should be considered a real candidate for the Bears’ vacancy. The next five games will serve as extended interview for him.
Who else could be on the Bears’ radar? Here is an early list of 15 potential candidates (in alphabetical order).
Bill Belichick, former Patriots head coach
The big question: How much organizational freedom and control does Belichick want?
If you’re a team interested in Belichick, you might have to be willing to change your structure to suit his demands. In New England, Belichick was in charge of personnel and coaching. He reported to team owner Robert Kraft. The Bears aren’t aligned that way.
Hiring Belichick, 72, would be a jolt to the Bears. He is the greatest coach of all time, but his track record after Tom Brady left New England is questionable. Belichick had only one winning season after Brady bolted for Tampa Bay in 2020. Mac Jones, a first-round pick in 2021, didn’t develop into a long-term starter, while the Patriots also had a handful of bad draft classes toward the end of Belichick’s tenure.
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Joe Brady, Bills offensive coordinator
The big question: How much credit does Brady really deserve for Buffalo’s offensive success?
Or is it all about quarterback Josh Allen?
In January, Brady was officially promoted to be the Bills’ full-time offensive coordinator after handling the position in an interim role last season after replacing Ken Dorsey following a 5-5 start. With Brady, Allen is having an MVP-worthy performance this season.
But Brady’s resume also includes two bad years as the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator under former coach Matt Rhule. The Panthers fired Brady after a 5-7 start during the 2021 season. Brady, 35, was hired by Carolina after one year as LSU’s passing game coordinator and receivers coach during the Tigers’ national championship run in 2019.
Thomas Brown, Bears offensive coordinator
The big question: Will the buy-in from offensive players carry over to the defensive side?
The Bears’ decision to replace Shane Waldron with Brown was a positive. He provided the offense with structure and an identity. The communication also improved along with the game plans for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. But his demeanor, straightforward approach and competitiveness also immediately resonated with Williams, receivers DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Cole Kmet and others. Assistant coaches also got behind Brown.
Brown, 38, has sounded like a head coach in his weekly news conferences. It’s not surprising that the Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans have interviewed him for their head coach openings over the past two seasons. He now has five games to state his case to the Bears.
Watching Brown, Poles should have an idea if his connection with offensive players can carry over to the defense, which is full of talented veterans under contract. Brown was the Rams’ assistant head coach under Sean McVay during their Super Bowl-winning season in 2020.
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Liam Coen, Buccaneers offensive coordinator
The big question: Does Coen have enough NFL experience?
As an extension of McVay’s coaching tree, Coen will be viewed favorably by teams that want a head coach with an offensive background. But this is only Coen’s fifth season coaching in the NFL. He’s gone back and forth between the Rams and the University of Kentucky, where he was the team’s offensive coordinator and QBs coach last season. Coen, 39, was a candidate for the Bears’ OC job that went to Waldron. But he could be better off sticking with Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield for at least one more season.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has head coaching experience, but with that comes concerns. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Brian Flores, Vikings defensive coordinator
The big question: How well would Flores mesh with Caleb Williams?
If you’re the Bears, you have to ask Flores, 43, about what Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said about playing for Mike McDaniel now after starting his career with him.
In August on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” Tagovailoa said: “To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning, and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this, you are that.’ How would that make you feel, listening to one or the other?”
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame head coach
The big question: Can Freeman overcome his lack of NFL coaching experience?
It might be too early for Freeman to seriously entertain NFL interest. But it wasn’t surprising that ESPN and NFL Network both listed Freeman on their head coach candidate lists. Freeman, 38, set a Notre Dame record for wins in his first three seasons. He’s turned the Fighting Irish back into a national power. The Bears are too close to South Bend, Ind., not to notice what Freeman is doing. Plus, Freeman, a former linebacker, was drafted by the Bears in the fifth round in 2009 out of Ohio State.
Aaron Glenn, Lions defensive coordinator
The big question: Who would Glenn bring along as his offensive coordinator?
The Lions are the favorite to win the Super Bowl for many reasons, but their defense’s emergence as one of the league’s best is the main difference from last season. Glenn, 52, has built a top-five unit in his fourth season. He’ll have no problem checking off “the leader of men” boxes for teams that interview him.
Glenn’s 25 years of NFL experience — from Pro Bowl cornerback to scout to assistant coach to coordinator — will separate him from many others on the head coach circuit. He’d have to find a good answer for teams for his offensive coordinator, but he’s also been part of a Lions team that has gone from worst to first in four years.
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will be a hot candidate, but he has no head coaching experience. (Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA Today Network)
Ben Johnson, Lions offensive coordinator
The big question: Do the Bears actually appeal to Johnson?
No candidate should have more leverage on the market than Johnson, who is the architect and play caller of Detroit’s high-powered offense. It should be apparent to all interested teams that Johnson will be picky, too. Johnson, 38, removed himself from consideration for the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders’ head coach openings last year.
Interested teams might have to be patient with Johnson if the Lions make a Super Bowl run. That could mean missing out on some of the best assistant coaches and coordinator candidates, but Kyle Shanahan was definitely worth the wait in San Francisco in 2017.
Jesse Minter, Chargers defensive coordinator
The big question: Is Minter the second coming of Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald?
Minter’s path is similar to Macdonald’s. There are too many Harbaugh connections to ignore. Minter worked for John Harbaugh for four seasons, the final one as the Ravens’ defensive backs coach in 2020, before joining Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. He was the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator for two seasons, including last year’s national title run. Minter, 41, then followed Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Macdonald was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator the past two seasons after being Michigan’s DC in 2021. Before joining the Wolverines, Macdonald was on John Harbaugh’s staff for seven seasons, where he worked closely with Minter.
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Kellen Moore, Eagles offensive coordinator
The big question: What has Moore learned from working with Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts?
Moore, 36, wouldn’t be a new name added to the head coaching cycle. The Panthers and Chargers have interviewed him in the past. He became a candidate for what he did with the Dallas Cowboys as he fielded one of the league’s best offenses in three of his four seasons there. Moore, a former QB, didn’t have the same success last season with Herbert and the Chargers. But he has the top run offense this season in Philadelphia.
Drew Petzing, Cardinals offensive coordinator
The big question: Is Petzing’s body of work as a play caller too limited?
Petzing, 37, is an example of how widespread the McVay/Shanahan offensive philosophies are in the NFL. He’s an extension through his connections with Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak in Cleveland. Petzing followed Stefanski to the Browns from the Minnesota Vikings in 2020. Kubiak — who was Mike Shanahan’s offensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos and their Super Bowl-winning teams with John Elway — was the Vikings’ assistant head coach in 2019. Petzing was the Browns’ QBs coach in 2022 before joining Jonathan Gannon in Arizona.
Greg Roman, Chargers offensive coordinator
The big question: Why didn’t the Bears hire him this year to be their offensive coordinator?
Roman, 52, has the most play-calling experience of any candidate on this list. But the Bears still didn’t covet him last year as they searched for Luke Getsy’s replacement. Roman felt bound to work for Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles after being part of his 49ers staff from 2011 to 2014. Roman played an important role in the development of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as his offensive coordinator for four seasons, including his first NFL MVP season in 2019.
Zac Robinson, Falcons offensive coordinator
The big question: Why didn’t the Bears hire him this year to be their offensive coordinator?
Like Roman and Coen, Robinson was one of the candidates Eberflus and Poles interviewed for their offensive coordinator opening last offseason. And like Roman and Coen, Robinson got a play-calling job elsewhere.
Atlanta paired Robinson with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins this season. It’s his first time in charge of an offense. That’s where he’s different from Roman and even Coen. All of Robinson’s previous coaching experience came under McVay in Los Angeles, where he was the assistant QBs coach, assistant receivers coach, passing game coordinator and QBs coach in five years.
Robinson, 38, was a quarterback at Oklahoma State. He was drafted in the seventh round by the Patriots in 2010.
Would Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik be a good choice to help develop Caleb Williams? (Troy Taormina / USA Today)
Bobby Slowik, Texans offensive coordinator
The big question: What do quarterback C.J. Stroud’s issues this season suggest about Slowik’s coaching?
Slowik, 37, became a popular head coaching candidate last year because of Stroud’s NFL offensive rookie of the year season. Slowik interviewed with the Panthers, Falcons, Commanders, Seahawks and Titans.
Stroud’s second season hasn’t had the same fanfare. His interceptions have increased, while his passing yards per game and passer rating have dropped.
Slowik’s connections to Kyle Shanahan, though, still will be viewed as a positive by some organizations. He began his career in Washington as a defensive assistant under Mike Shanahan from 2011 to 2013. He then spent five years working for Pro Football Focus before joining Kyle Shanahan in 2019 in San Francisco, where he was promoted to passing game coordinator in 2022.
Mike Vrabel, former Titans head coach
The big question: What’s Vrabel’s plan to develop Williams?
When Vrabel took over the Titans in 2018, the team still had Marcus Mariota, the second pick in 2015, at quarterback. In 2019, Mariota was benched for Ryan Tannehill and Vrabel never looked back. The circumstances are different in Chicago. Williams is only in his second season, while Mariota was in his fourth when Vrabel took over in Tennessee. But that means Vrabel and other head coach candidates will still need to present a plan for Williams to the Bears.
Vrabel, 49, won with the Titans, going 54-45 over five seasons, reaching the AFC Championship Game in his second season and going 2-3 overall in the playoffs. His energy and coaching ability should connect with veterans on defense. But the Bears still have to build around Williams, and that starts with the head coach.
Vrabel’s experiences as a player could resonate with Bears players. He’s a three-time Super Bowl champion. But he’s also a big personality with strong opinions. The Bears have typically preferred different candidates.
(Top photo of Thomas Brown: Luke Hales / Getty Images)