It’s one of the quirks of Bear-dom that a coach as successful as Mike McCarthy would be a tough sell to Bears fans whose team has had one winning season in the last 14 years and just four playoff victories in the last 34. Would it help that the former Packers coach grew up less than 30 miles from Mike Ditka’s hometown of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania?
The reality is that McCarthy, with his 174-112 record and 12 playoff appearances in 18 seasons with the Packers and Cowboys, including a Super Bowl championship with the Packers, would rate as the Bears’ best coach since Ditka. His candidacy for the Bears’ head coaching vacancy returned to the front burner Monday when Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced that McCarthy would not return in 2025 after the two sides failed to agree on a new contract.
The Bears are presumed suitors, based on their official request to interview McCarthy on Jan. 6, one day after the regular season ended. The Cowboys had denied that request, hoping to re-sign McCarthy, whose contract ends Tuesday.
That didn’t happen, so the Cowboys and McCarthy cut ties after five seasons (49-35, .583 winning percentage) and three playoff berths. This new development could impact the Bears one way or another. Perhaps even more significant than making McCarthy available, the Cowboys have become the sixth NFL team looking for a head coach after the Patriots signed Mike Vrabel on Sunday. The Saints, Jets, Raiders and Jaguars are the others.
For what it’s worth, the Cowboys can’t interview Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson — the dream candidate of many Bears fans — or Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn until after the Lions’ postseason ends because they didn’t conduct a first interview with either coordinator before Sunday. Still, Jones is always a factor, and the opening in Dallas might still complicate the Bears’ plans.
McCarthy is one of 20 candidates the Bears have expressed interest in. That list include veteran coaches Pete Carroll, Vrabel, McCarthy and Ron Rivera, hot coordinators Johnson and Joe Brady (Bills) and college coaches Matt Campbell (Iowa State), David Shaw (formerly Stanford) and Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame). The Bears requested an interview with Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
The Bears have interviewed nine people so far, including their own interim head coach, Thomas Brown, on Monday. They also interviewed Vrabel, Carroll, Johnson, Glenn, Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Giants offensive coor-dinator Mike Kafka and Rivera, the former Bears linebacker and Panthers and Commanders head coach.
Carroll, an energetic 73, arguably tops the list of veteran NFL coaches. But McCarthy, 61, has a similar résumé and checks the box of being an offensive-minded coach with a history of success working with quarterbacks. For Bears general manager Ryan Poles, that will be a huge factor, with Caleb Williams in a critical stage heading into his second NFL season.
McCarthy, who learned the West Coast offense from Paul Hackett — a disciple of the originator, Bill Walsh — worked with Joe Montana as a quality-control coach for the Chiefs in 1993-94 and with Brett Favre as quarterbacks coach with the Packers in 1999. In 13 seasons as Packers head coach (2006-2018), McCartney oversaw Favre’s rejuvenation in 2007, when he threw for 4,155 yards and was runner-up for the MVP award as the Packers went 13-3. He also was on the ground floor for Aaron Rodgers’ ascent to stardom and coached him during his first two MVP seasons (2011, 2014).
In five seasons with the Cowboys, McCarthy again had QB-driven success, this time with Dak Prescott, who was the MVP runner-up in 2013 (as a distant second to Lamar Jackson), throwing for 4,516 yards and an NFL-best 36 touchdowns to nine interceptions for a career-high 105.9 passer rating.
The Cowboys went 12-5 in three consecutive seasons before falling to 7-10 this season when Prescott slumped in eight starts, then suffered a season-ending hamstring injury. The Cowboys actually had a better record with backup Cooper Rush (4-4) than they did with Prescott (3-5).
Still, a McCarthy quarterback has ranked in the top 10 in passer rating 12 times in the last 18 seasons, including eight times in the top five. His offenses ranked in the top 10 in scoring 11 times. (The Bears have ranked in the top 10 in scoring just four times in the last 34 seasons.)
So, while many Bears fans are dreaming of the shiny new toy in Johnson, the well-worn but dependable McCarthy can’t be dismissed.
The Bears could do much worse — and have, many times.
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