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Should the Bears hire Mike Vrabel to be their next head coach?

If GM Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren want an experienced head coach, Vrabel is likely the best candidate available.

Published

12 months ago

December 11, 2024

Pete Martuneac

Should the Bears hire Mike Vrabel to be their next head coach? (News)

Kevin Sabitus/GettyImages

When the Chicago Bears made the historic decision to fire Matt Eberflus midseason, they sent a strong message to the rest of the league and potential candidates: how they’ve done things hasn’t been working, and they will change that. Remember, the Bears had never fired a head coach midseason in their 105-year history. Now they have a job opening that team president Kevin Warren says will be the “most coveted job” in the league this offseason.

Every coordinator and assistant with head coaching aspirations will have this job at the top of their lists, including some excellent candidates. Ben Johnson is, once again, the hot name being talked about as the architect of Detroit’s dominant offense, but there’s another guy out there who has head coaching experience and has been in a conference championship game: form Titans coach Mike Vrabel.

Short-lived success in Tennessee

Vrabel was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans in 2018. The Titans went 9-7 in each of his first two years and reached the AFC Championship game in 2019, where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions, Kansas City Chiefs. They won 23 games over the next two seasons but failed to get back to the AFC Championship, then declined to just 7 and 6 wins in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Following the 2023 season, Vrabel was fired,

Mike Vrabel fits in Chicago

There are several good head coaching candidates for Chicago, and most have good arguments in their favor for being a “fit” for the Bears” needs. But Vrabel checks more boxes than most. He has the experience and has proven that he can be a culture changer, coming very close to knocking off the Kansas City Chiefs and reaching the pinnacle of the NFL. And he did that all with a quarterback who is, at best, a steady veteran.

Give Vrabel a talented Bears roster with a dynamic quarterback like Caleb Williams, and the sky’s the limit. Some fans and analysts believe the Bears roster isn’t talented enough to win, but I’m not buying that for a second. They have talent on both sides of the ball, they just lack the head coach who can get the most out of them. That was made as clear as day last Sunday when Kyle Shanahan coached circles around the inexperienced Thomas Brown and Eric Washington.

Will Mike Vrabel be the guy for the Chicago Bears? The chances are good if you believe in CBS Sports insider Jonathan Jones. Earlier this month, he said he’s hearing that the Bears are leaning towards a CEO, “leader of men” type of coach. If that’s true, I think Vrabel to Chicago is as good as done.

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