Around two months ago, a rumor popped up that the Chicago Bears were in talks with prominent agent Trace Armstrong about some sort of role in their front office. An intriguing idea given his business connections around the league and the fact he is a former Bears defensive end. Armstrong later denied the rumor, but longtime Bears analyst Peggy Kusinski of NBC Sports kept fanning the flames.
She hinted in early December that the Bears were indeed negotiating with Armstrong about some sort of Director of Football Operations role. She even went so far as to say people were telling her this. Now with one more game to play in the regular season and Black Monday imminent, Kusinski popped up again. This time with a tweet that once again mentioned Armstrong and a certain other notable former Bear.
thank you guys – Brain fog! Of course Trace Armstrong didnot protect Harbaugh he was DLine when both played for #ChicagoBears. Still there's a mutual respect & a relationship between them. Interesting to see what happens Monday if Armstrong interested in front office…
— Peggy Kusinski (@peggykusinski) January 8, 2022
Everybody has heard the Jim Harbaugh rumors by now.
The Michigan head coach is coming off the best season he’s ever had at the program. A 12-2 record, Big Ten championship, and berth in the College Football Playoffs. Now insiders believe he is seriously considering a jump back to the NFL while his stock is high. The two teams he seems most interested in are the Raiders and Bears. This is where the mentioning of Armstrong gets truly fascinating.
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People forget that he and Harbaugh were teammates from 1989 to 1993. So they know each other well. Armstrong is also a top agent for both NFL and college coaches. It isn’t hard to imagine he’d have easy inroads of communication. One former Bear bringing in another to help revive the franchise. Harbaugh has the reputation of a winner. He understands the history and expectations. Maybe Kusinski knows something.
Trace Armstrong either told the truth or went full espionage
It wouldn’t be the first time somebody denied they were interested in a certain job only to actually take it a few weeks later. See Nick Saban at Alabama. Don’t forget Armstrong has Matt Nagy as his client. It wouldn’t look overly professional if he claimed a prominent job in the Bears hierarchy and actively courted Nagy’s replacement while the man was still employed. So perhaps this news won’t surface until the head coach is terminated on Monday.
Or Kusinski is wrong. Still, her persistence on this Trace Armstrong thing is hard to ignore. Especially given her strong connection in the Chicago sports community. Remember the Bears had a chance to scoop Harbaugh back in 2015 after he left San Francisco. They didn’t seem to show any interest at the time. Now things seem to have changed. Maybe George McCaskey has warmed to the idea, or maybe he’s being sold on it by somebody that knows the head coach well.
The timing of everything lines up.
Alas, nobody can say anything for sure. McCaskey hasn’t spoken a word to the public since last January. Nothing is expected from him until Monday at the earliest. Expectations are Nagy is out. GM Ryan Pace might go too. From there, the search for fresh faces will commence. Kusinski seems rather confident that the Harbaugh rumors have legs.
