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Former journeyman quarterback Josh McCown, who spent the 2011-13 seasons with the Chicago Bears, has become a surprise head coach candidate with multiple teams showing interest.
The Houston Texans announced on Jan. 20 they completed an interview with the former signal-caller for their vacant head coaching position. The Texans also interviewed McCown at the end of the 2020 season, but wound up hiring David Culley, who was fired after just one year.
According to reporter Aaron Wilson, Houston isn’t the only team interested in McCown. Wilson reported on Jan. 21 that the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also looking for a head coach after firing Urban Meyer, had also spoken with the ex-QB, noting it was a conversation and not a formal interview. Jon Greenberg of The Athletic encouraged the Bears to take a look at McCown, but that hasn’t happened.
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McCown Had Memorable 3 Seasons With Bears
McCown played for 12 different NFL teams, finishing his career with the Texans. He retired at the end of the 2020 season, and he was well-respected everywhere he played. He made his mark on the Bears’ record books in limited opportunities. He had a 101.0 passer rating in three seasons (11 games, seven starts), and his 109.0 passer rating in 2013 was the best single season by any Bears quarterback in history.
.@JoshMcCown12 retires as the #Bears’ all-time passer rating leader.
He threw 15 touchdowns to five interceptions with Chicago, going 4-3 in his seven starts. He was also the first Bears quarterback to throw for 300 yards in three straight games in the 2013 season, when he took over for an injured Jay Cutler. Many fans and analysts thought McCown should have kept the starting job that year, but former Bears coach Marc Trestman went back to Cutler.
McCown started 76 games over his 17-year career, making 102 total appearances.
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McCown Has No NFL Coaching Experience
The 42-year-old McCown has been an assistant coach at Rusk High School in Texas where his sons also attend, but he has no coaching experience in the NFL. Considering his inexperience, some analysts are surprised he’s being considered for head coaching gigs. Analyst Brett Kollmann pointed out that McCown doesn’t even have any “position coach experience.”
I have no doubts that Josh is a fine person and a great locker room guy, but my god at least hire someone with coordinator experience or even position coach experience at a level above high school for more than one year. What are we doing here.
McCown had also discussed coaching in some capacity during his exit interview with the Philadelphia Eagles in January of 2020, according to a report by Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer but nothing materialized.
McCown told Sarah Barshop of ESPN in November of 2020 he had been thinking about a career in coaching for quite some time. “If you’d asked me that 10 years ago, I would’ve said no way, that’s not what I want to do at this level. … The longer I’ve been in this game and been around these guys, I see real value in being able to be a part of an organization and compete at the highest level. Whenever I finally take the cleats off, I definitely see that in the future. They (Texans) understand, as did the Eagles and kind of everybody else for the past four or five years of my career, that I’m definitely interested in that.”
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Ex-Bears QB Gaining Interest From Multiple Teams as Head Coach Candidate