Jim Harbaugh had been flirting with an NFL return for years. While he’d had plenty of success at Michigan, most felt he was determined to return to the pros and pursue his white whale of winning a Super Bowl. Rumors persisted that his ultimate goal was to take over the Chicago Bears. He’d played quarterback for the franchise and idolized Mike Ditka. It seemed like such a natural fit. The Bears had three different opportunities to hire Harbaugh between 2015 and 2022. Each time, they passed.
At last, the coach returned to the NFL after winning a national championship, taking over the Los Angeles Chargers. He currently has the team firmly in the playoff mix. Many in the Chicago area still can’t understand why the Bears didn’t at least consider it. Here’s the thing.
They did.
Dan McNeil is a former local radio host who’s built many connections in the NFL community over a long career. He revealed that Harbaugh contacted the Bears about their head coach job this past off-season. GM Ryan Poles was actually open to it. However, team president Kevin Warren shot it down.
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Jim Harbaugh was one step away from the job.
This revelation confirms two important rumors that have persisted for months. One is that Poles wanted to move off Matt Eberflus this past off-season. David Kaplan of ESPN 1000 was the first to confirm this. It obviously didn’t happen, but perhaps he felt the allure of a proven winner like Harbaugh would change their mind. The other rumor was that the head coach and Warren had unresolved beef. This stems from their contentious relationship when the Bears president was commissioner of the Big Ten.
There were many hard feelings over how Warren handled the 2020 COVID pandemic. He wanted to cancel football that year altogether, while Jim Harbaugh and other coaches wanted to play. It was a bitter dispute that seems to have left lingering resentment. Warren likely wanted no part of the outspoken Harbaugh again, so the Bears job was closed to him. Instead, he opted to return to the west coast to take over the Chargers. Fittingly, Eberflus was fired midway through the season.
