Sean Payton May Not Be the Fired Coach the Bears Swipe After All

The pressing question for the past month is will Chicago Bears head coach John Fox be able to hang onto his job for one more year? Eight games into 2017 and the answer remains elusive. The Bears are 3-5. Their rookie QB isn’t setting the world on fire. Players are still making a lot of sloppy mistakes. Fox is by no means safe. Thus the discussion about Bears head coaching candidates rolls on.

One name that was heavily prominent on that last was Sean Payton. The reasons were obvious. His time in New Orleans appeared to be coming to an end. They were losing too many games and playing awful defense. Now? Everything has changed. The Saints are one of the top teams in the NFC and their defense is a big reason why. Suddenly the belief is Payton isn’t going anywhere.

Thus Chicago may have to look elsewhere for options. As it turns out, in a wild twist of irony, there may end up being another fired coach whom the Bears could scoop up to oversee the Mitch Trubisky development.

Bears head coaching candidates list must include Mike McCarthy

For the past decade few coaches have given Chicago more headaches than Mike McCarthy. He’s run the Green Bay Packers like a well-oiled machine, thanks in large part to his management of their enriched quarterback position. Under his watch the Packers have missed the playoffs just twice in 11 seasons. During that span they’ve won a Super Bowl and played in three other NFC championship games.

Now though it appears fans are fed up with him and his staff. Last season they were in trouble after the Packers got off to a 4-6 start. McCarthy was under a ton of heat at the time but managed to save himself with a late-season surge to win the division.

Fast forward to this year and things are reaching those levels again. Except this time McCarthy doesn’t have Aaron Rodgers to help bail him out. Since the All-Pro broke his collarbone, the Packers have lost three-straight games. Fans are getting their pitchforks and torches out. They’ve had enough of McCarthy and his staff and are demanding a change.

Discontent stems from lack of Super Bowl success

It’s unclear to many outside Green Bay how they can be so willing to throw McCarthy out given his long run of success. Truth be told most of it has to do with not finishing the job enough. Yes McCarthy won a Super Bowl, but with a once-in-a-generation talent like Aaron Rodgers at quarterback he should’ve won at least one more. Probably two.

It’s especially difficult because that’s exactly what the New England Patriots have done with Tom Brady. If they can do it, why can’t Green Bay? To fans that’s an indictment on McCarthy and a damning reason for him to go. It’s time for a change.

If that ends up being the case, then the Bears can’t be stupid. They need to hire that man right away. Why? He’s better than Fox, for starters. In head-to-head matchups McCarthy owns a 6-2 edge over Fox. Beyond that he’s still just 53-years old, almost a full decade Fox’s junior. Last but certainly not least, he remains one of the best offensive play callers in the NFL.

Since he took over in 2006, the Packers offense has ranked in the top five for points scored in a season seven times. Now people will automatically think this was all about Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Except that’s not the case. During his five-year run as offensive coordinator in New Orleans, the Saints placed top 15 in scoring four times and top 10 twice.

Perhaps his greatest work came in 2013 though. That year Rodgers broke his collarbone for the first time. In seven games he was out, the Packers managed to score 26 or more points in three of them and threw the ball for 280 yards or more in four of them. It was proof that he could adjust his system to still find success.

Imagine what he’d be able to do with Trubisky. Also imagine how motivated he’d be to show Green Bay they made a mistake if he were fired.