When discussing the soon-to-be (hopefully) open Chicago Bears head coaching position, there is no shortage of names that will be connected to it. There are only 32 such jobs in the NFL. Plenty of people will want. It falls to George McCaskey to find the right one. Somebody who can get this team to a point where they can be consistently competitive. Thus far they haven’t found that guy.
So who might they consider next? There are plenty of hot names out there at the moment. Brian Daboll, Kellen Moore, Josh McDaniels, Byron Leftwich, and Todd Bowles just to name a few. There are also former head coaches like Doug Pederson and college guys like Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh. When it comes to NFL draft insider Matt Miller though, there is one name atop his shortlist that fits that Bears job perfectly.
Couple of names that intrigue me:
Jim Caldwell
Raheem Morris
Nathaniel Hackett
Patrick Graham https://t.co/tVAth06feW— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) December 14, 2021
Jim Caldwell is probably one of the more interesting names out there.
A two-time head coach since 2009, he’s had considerable success. With the Indianapolis Colts, he led them to the Super Bowl his first year and the playoffs his second. After being fired in 2012, he ended up the offensive coordinator in Baltimore and helped the Ravens win the Super Bowl. This led to a second head coaching stint. This time with the Detroit Lions. Across four seasons, he led them to the playoffs twice and had a winning record in three of them.
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A lot of people felt it was a big mistake when the Lions fired him in 2018. As evidenced by the fact the organization hasn’t sniffed a winning record since his departure. A protege of Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy, the man understands how to foster a winning culture and has a background in coaching quarterbacks. From a resume standpoint, there are some strong arguments to be made.
Should the Chicago Bears consider Caldwell?
There is no arguing his track record. The guy has shown he can win football games and cater to his quarterbacks. Peyton Manning and Matthew Stafford both had success under his watch. However, there are some concerns. Caldwell hasn’t worked in the NFL for two years now. He spent a season in Miami in 2019 but stepped down because of “health issues.” That leads to the other concern.
He is 66-years old. The NFL is a difficult league. While there are older coaches, most of them were established many years ago and have grown comfortable in their positions. It is rare for an organization to hire a guy when he is approaching 70. That doesn’t offer much hope for long-term stability. Especially with a young quarterback like the Chicago Bears have in Justin Fields.
This means one of two things.
Either Caldwell must insist he can go for a long time or he’d need to have a strong succession plan in place. Neither seems overly likely. Indianapolis and Detroit were one thing. It’s safe to wonder if the man is ready for the immense challenges Chicago would present. This city can wear a coach down fast if he doesn’t win. While nobody can dispute his past success, Caldwell falls into the “too little, too late” category.
