The Chicago Bears interviewed Mike McCarthy for their next coach opening this week. In fact, according to the latest intel coming out of Halas Hall, is it coming down to McCarthy and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
No matter who the Bears choose, it is important they get this one right. If it is down to McCarthy and Johnson, both coaches have their pros and cons, but what matters most is that the powers that be in Chicago have to believe that the next head coach will be an asset to quarterback Caleb Williams.
Frankly, developing Williams should be the only thing that matters in this decision, because the Bears have poured too many resources into too many quarterbacks over the years who didn’t work out to have this No. 1 overall pick not work out too.
In the NFL you’ve either got a quarterback or you don’t. If you have one who can hang with the stars of this league, you’ve got a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl. If you don’t have a star quarterback, though, your chances are slim to none.
Gone are the days of Trent Dilfer’s Baltimore Ravens. Yes, defense is still important and it matters what role players a quarterback has around him, but the ultimate trump card on the road to a Super Bowl is a star quarterback.
Don’t believe it? Here are the last handful of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes (three times), Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady (three times), Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. These are all-star quarterbacks who won it all at various stages of their careers, but the fact remains that they were star quarterbacks hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
That’s the type of quarterback the Bears believe they have in Williams, or at least they hope so, so the next head coach in Chicago has to be the person who can best get Williams to live up to that potential.
As such, Johnson does seem like an extremely intriguing option. He’s currently the NFL’s hot play-caller as the man orchestrating the most explosive and fun offense in the league in Detroit, but he does have his risks as well. Namely, he’s never been a head coach before. Plenty of great coordinators have tried their hand at head coaching and have failed.
Meanwhile, McCarthy brings three desirable traits to the table that make him the best option for Williams and the Bears. 1) He has plenty of head coaching experience 2) He knows what it takes to win the Super Bowl and 3) He has a track record of quarterback development.
Mike McCarthy makes sense for Caleb Williams and the Bears
Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy talks with quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) during warmups prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lambeau Field.
We’re in an age when youth and excitement rule the NFL coaching landscape. It’s not quite the same as it was when everyone who ever had a cup of coffee with Sean McVay was getting a coaching gig, but the current offensive landscape of the NFL favors young and innovative minds.
That’s not a bad thing, either. Johnson is 38 and his playbook is currently lighting the NFL on fire with the Lions.
With that said, there still is value to experience and wisdom in an NFL head coach. Keep in mind, that McCarthy took his first head coaching job with the Green Bay Packers in 2006, when Johnson was 20 years old. He wasn’t even legally allowed to drink yet, and McCarthy was coaching a Hall of Fame quarterback in Brett Favre and was tracking to coach another soon-to-be Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers.
McCarthy has 18 seasons of head coaching experience, not to mention his time as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator. He started in the NFL in 1993 as an offensive quality control coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. Johnson was seven at that time.
McCarthy knows the highs and lows of the NFL and he knows what it takes to be a consistent winner. Even after a disappointing 7-10 season with the Cowboys, his overall coaching record is 174-112-2. Oh, and let’s not forget, as mentioned above, he won a Super Bowl in his fifth season with the Packers.
That Super Bowl win plus the fact that he presided over the transition between Favre and Rodgers in Green Bay makes him uniquely qualified for the Chicago gig. The Bears aren’t transitioning from greatness to greatness like the Packers did, but they are trying to get the most out of a young and talented quarterback and that’s exactly what McCarthy did with Rodgers in Green Bay.
Rodgers still talks highly about McCarthy.
“Hell of a ball coach, hell of a ball coach,” Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show. “What he did this year with the amount of injuries they had I thought was amazing. Hearing the guys talking about him, I wasn’t surprised. Anybody that’s played for Mike and gets to know him a little bit, and gets to feel that great big heart that he has, it’s special.”
McCarthy is a proven quarterback-first coach with a proven track record of winning. We haven’t even touched on Dak Prescott, who was an MVP candidate for the Cowboys in 2023 under McCarthy.
McCarthy is exactly the type of coach who could help Williams thrive not just now but in the long term, which makes him the best fit for the Bears.
