{"id":210354,"date":"2025-01-14T18:14:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T23:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=210354"},"modified":"2025-01-14T18:14:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T23:14:23","slug":"the-surprising-truth-about-bears-new-head-coach-mike-mccarthy-ben-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/14\/the-surprising-truth-about-bears-new-head-coach-mike-mccarthy-ben-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprising Truth About the Bears’ Quest for a New Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leave it to the Chicago Bears to turn a head coaching search into a stressful ordeal. There’s no definitive formula for finding the perfect head coach, but it feels like the Bears are leaning toward a \u201csafe\u201d hire\u2014something this team doesn’t need right now.<\/p>\n

The Surprising Truth About the Bears’ Quest for a New Head Coach<\/h2>\n

The Bears’ Unexpected Path to a New Head Coach<\/h3>\n

NFL Insider Tom Pelissero<\/a> recently reported that the Bears will interview former Green Bay Packers<\/a> and Dallas Cowboys<\/a> head coach Mike McCarthy<\/a> on Wednesday. The catch? It’s at Halas Hall. Besides Ron Rivera, McCarthy has been the only other in-person interview.<\/p>\n

Bears fans are going to have mixed reactions, and rightfully so. On one hand, McCarthy boasts an impressive resume:<\/a> a Super Bowl win, 12 playoff appearances in 18 seasons, 11 double-digit win seasons, 11 top-10 scoring offenses, and 12 seasons with a quarterback in the top 10 for passer rating.<\/p>\n

He’s also a former Packers coach who couldn’t accomplish more than one Super Bowl with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Plus he didn’t accomplish much in Dallas either.<\/p>\n

So is McCarthy a quarterback whisper or is he a product of the QBs he’s coached? It’s a discussion with no clear answer.<\/p>\n

Is McCarthy the Right Fit for Chicago?<\/h3>\n

It feels like no head coach will be the answer to the Bears problems, because it stems more from just coaching. However, McCarthy would arguably be one of the most high-profiled head coaches in Chicago since Mike Ditka. He’s a proven winner and seems to know how to build a competent coaching staff.<\/p>\n

It just feels like the Bears are settling here. They have a chance to hire a young offensive coordinator in Ben Johnson,<\/a> who appears to be on track to become the next Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan.<\/p>\n

People like to argue that there’s no guarantees that Johnson will be a great head coach, but the same can be said about McCarthy. It seems McCarthy’s best days are behind him, and the Bears shouldn’t play it safe.<\/p>\n

Patience is a Virtue<\/h3>\n

If the Bears are interviewing 20+ candidates, there’s no rush to hire a head coach right? Because if the Bears decide they feel comfortable hiring Mike McCarthy after the interview Wednesday, then they’ll miss out on Ben Johnson.<\/p>\n

Personally, Johnson is worth waiting for. But it feels like the Bears could settle for McCarthy, which doesn’t feel right. The Bears always settle, and it’s gotten them nowhere. It could be jumping the gun, but it could also be the reality for the Bears.<\/p>\n

McCarthy should be a plan B for the Bears, not a plan A. He’s a way better candidate than most coaches the Bears interviewed, but Johnson should be the top priority. It feels like Johnson’s ceiling is much higher than McCarthy’s at this point, and that’s a risk the Bears should be willing to take.<\/p>\n

If Johnson isn’t available and the Bears turn to McCarthy, fine. But hiring McCarthy while Johnson is still in play could haunt Chicago for years to come.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Tim Heitman – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when fans began to feel hopeful, the Bears\u2019 coaching search seems destined to lead to another uninspiring outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":210388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[9585,7403,49,43,276,32088],"class_list":["post-210354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","tag-ben-johnson","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-detroit-lions","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl-coaches"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210407,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210354\/revisions\/210407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}