Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is currently a very highly sought after head coaching candidate around the NFL, but Fangio is remaining focused on the task at hand, which is helping the Bears go on a playoff run, according to Patrick Finley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
‘‘I’ve done zero (prep work),’’ he said Thursday when asked how much he had been preparing for his interviews with the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins scheduled for Monday. ‘‘I have not returned one phone call. I have not done one piece of work for it. I refuse to. And that’s it.’’
Fangio was actually interviewed for Chicago's head-coaching job a year ago, but lost out to Matt Nagy. You would figure he would be jumping at the opportunity to be the head coach of a football team, but you have to admire his dedication to the Bears.
‘‘I just think it’s so important to focus,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘It’s not fair to your peers [otherwise]. It’s not fair to your players. . . . He’s been doing a great job with that. So completely focused. It is hard, though. It’s not easy because you’re talking about a big-time opportunity.’’
Fangio added that he has never really done much homework, quipping that that could be the reason why he is a coordinator rather than a head coach right now:
‘‘Maybe that’s why I’m here,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know. I have enough on my plate coaching these guys and the other things than…[I’ll] deal with it as they come up.’’
The Bears won 12 games and the NFC North division title this season behind the strength of their defense, which ranked third in the league this year.