Mike Vrabel has had plenty of time to think about his next job and monitor the various dramas of the teams that now want to interview him, so there’s no doubt he’s well aware of the Bears’ recent fiascos.
He’ll weigh everything he’s seen, including the uncertainty over general manager Ryan Poles’ long-term job security, as he weighs the alternatives of returning to a Patriots organization he knows extremely well from winning three Super Bowls there or teaming up with former teammate and Raiders part-owner Tom Brady.
The Bears kicked off their interviews Wednesday with Vrabel.
It’s arrogant of the Bears to assume the current coaching carousel revolves around them. Team president Kevin Warren’s assertion that “this will be the most coveted job in the NFL” isn’t automatically the prevailing opinion outside Halas Hall. When asked Tuesday if it’d be a deal-breaker if a coaching candidate wanted to replace Poles with his own general manager, chairman George McCaskey said that’s never come up in an interview.
“Usually,” McCaskey said with a smile, “they want the job.”
That might change as the Bears consider candidates who have substantial leverage like Vrabel and Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Both have multiple interviews scheduled, with Johnson expected to meet with the Bears, Patriots, Jaguars and Raiders between Thursday and Sunday.
No candidate has been in demand more than Johnson, who turned down offers each of the last two Januarys because he was highly selective about entering a situation built for success. It’d be logical for him to want to be on the same timeline with the general manager, or perhaps insist on a team hiring someone he wants, and that could present an issue if Poles is in the final year of his contract while the new coach is just beginning his.
Warren praised Poles effusively and emphatically last month and Tuesday, but despite raving about how talented he is and how confident he is in him, he sidestepped a question about committing to him for the long term.
“When we say long term, you know, a year is lifetime,” Warren said. “I trust Ryan. I trust the process that he has put together. I'm confident it will yield positive results. ... We will get this right and I'm looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, when Jaguars owner Shad Khan was asked Monday whether he’d consider firing general manager Trent Baalke should a compelling candidate request it, he said, “If it is credible, then you want to do it.”
That’s a much different answer than what Vrabel and Johnson will hear from the Bears.
The Bears’ biggest selling point is young quarterback Caleb Williams and the potential that a new coach sees in him, not the prestige of coaching a charter franchise, which, by the way, hasn’t won a playoff game in 14 years and sent its last coach out for a news conference while the brass was meeting to fire him.
It helps that the Bears have the fifth-most salary-cap space at $80.1 million, per Over The Cap, and three of the top 41 picks in the upcoming draft, but they’re far from the only team with enticing construction materials.
The Patriots have a promising young quarterback in Drake Maye and a league-high $123.9 million in cap space. A new coach could choose the Raiders’ next quarterback with the No. 6 pick in the draft, plus they have $107.3 million in cap space. Many around the NFL still see big upside in 25-year-old Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who already has made a Pro Bowl.
Everything in this league is competitive. The biggest mistake the Bears could make, just like on the field, is assuming anything will come easily.
