It can be so easy to make assumptions about what the Chicago Bears are going to do at head coach. Right now Matt Eberflus is the only candidate to receive a second interview request. He will hold that interview on Monday. The same day the team meets with GM hopeful Morocco Brown who happens to work with Eberflus in Indianapolis. Well, that’s it then. There is your Bears coach/GM combo of the future. Except things are rarely that simple. Especially when somebody like Jim Harbaugh remains out there.
In case anybody hasn’t heard already, the Michigan head coach is eyeing potential NFL jobs. Multiple reports have indicated as much. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. Mike Florio of NBC Sports. The latter suggested that Harbaugh is waiting out the landscape to see if a good ownership and GM situation materializes. The fact he still hasn’t declared he is staying in Michigan can’t be ignored. It was then that Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog, who has been plugged into the Bears situation since it kicked off earlier this month, dropped this.
Here’s what I will say: Jim Harbaugh has by no means ruled out the Chicago Bears. (And the Bears have not ruled him out.)
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) January 20, 2022
This is true.
SM reached out to a source to ask about the situation. From what can be gathered, the feeling is Harbaugh wants the Bears job. That is not in question. The Bears are intrigued by the head coach. However, they aren’t in a rush to make any final decision. It is clear they wish to go through their process of evaluating candidates. That includes getting a GM in place before anything else.
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People have kept connecting Harbaugh to the Las Vegas Raiders job. Yet the reality is they haven’t interviewed him either and now there are rumblings they have interest in Josh McDaniels. Nothing has happened to this point that should make the Bears feel a need to be in a hurry. Jim Harbaugh is in play but he’s not the only one. It seems like both sides are waiting to see what happens at GM.
Jim Harbaugh has avenues into Chicago
It has already been mentioned that the coach spent time alongside future executive Jeff Ireland back in the late 1980s. Ireland then tried to hire Harbaugh in Miami back in 2011. The Bears interview the Saints assistant GM last week. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the Browns VP of football operations, served in San Francisco for a brief time when Harbaugh was the head coach. I was also informed that the coach is an admirer of former Texans GM Rick Smith who he first got to know when the latter worked for the Denver Broncos.
Nothing is set in stone.
The Eberflus situation is interesting but hardly a lock. Don’t forget he also has a second interview with Jacksonville. They could swipe him instead, ruining the supposed guarantee that he is Chicago’s guy. The Bears still haven’t interviewed several of their other GM and head coach candidates. Unless Jim Harbaugh reverses course and declares he is staying at Michigan, this scenario will remain a legitimate possibility. Best to see how things play out over the weekend.
