In a decision that came a full year later than it should've, the Chicago Bears finally decided to move on from head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday afternoon, putting an end to a miserable tenure marked by late game ineptitude and the growth of a beard that Jedi mind-tricked Bears fans into thinking Flus may actually be a good head coach. Facial hair can hide a lot of things — a scar, a double chin, a baby face — but it can't hide a bad football coach.
Now the Bears need to make sure they don't repeat the same mistake they've made for over a decade now with their next head coaching hire. Remember, Lovie Smith was 81-63 in Chicago and had led the Bears to three postseason appearances in his nine seasons before he was fired. Since then, the Bears have the 5th-worst record in the NFL and have cycle through four different head coaches, none who lasted more than four seasons.
Most Bears fans are dreaming of seeing Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson patrolling the sidelines at Soldier Field next year. Even certain members of the media, like NFL Network's Rich Eisen, support this idea. But on the latest episode of the Rich Eisen Show, the longtime NFL analyst proposed another idea… one that could bring the Bears back to their glory days.
“I would go for [Mike] Vrabel,” Eisen suggested on Friday. “You get yourself a [Mike] Ditka type sort of personality. Stick him out there on the sideline. Find the right offensive coordinator. Obviously it didn’t work the last time, and go to work. See how that works.”
Mike Vrabel, who is currently serving as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns, is a logical choice to take over as the head coach in Chicago in 2025. Vrabel has had legitimate success as a head coach in the past, going 54-45 in his tenure with the Tennessee Titans. He won Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading Tennessee to the best record in the AFC.
But even beyond Vrabel's success as a head coach, there are clear parallels between the 49-year-old coach and the man who earned nationwide fame as the head coach of the Bears that make him an interesting candidate for Ryan Poles to consider.
Vrabel, like Ditka, had a blue collar upbringing, and just as was the case with Ditka and Carnegie, Pennsylvania, Vrabel seems to embody the the industrial city — Akron, Ohio — that he came from. Vrabel, like Ditka, played for many years in the NFL and had a great deal of success. Ditka was a Hall of Fame tight end. Vrabel was a linebacker who won three Super Bowls and was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame. And Vrabel, like Ditka, just looks like the guy who should be coaching the Bears.
Packaging Mike Vrabel with a high-profile offensive coordinator could end up being best case scenario for Chicago's coaching search. But as has been the case since Lovie Smith was given the boot, the guy that Bears fans rally around doesn't end up being the guy who gets the job. So while Vrabel or Ben Johnson would be preferred, this Bears fan isn't getting his hopes up.
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