Chicago Bears fans and players have been openly questioning the team’s coaching staff for weeks, which has led to second guessing front office decisions and wondering what might have been.
Nick Friedell, former and long-time NBA reporter for ESPN who was based in the Windy City for years covering the Chicago Bulls, took to X on Sunday, November 3, to lament the Bears’ decision to pass on Jim Harbaugh and stick with head coach Matt Eberflus instead.
“I cannot believe the Bears didn’t hire Harbaugh when they had the chance,” Friedell wrote after Chicago’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals, which dropped the team to 4-4 on the season. “The answer was right in front of them and they messed up. Again.”
Bears Considered Replacing Matt Eberflus With Jim Harbaugh Last Offseason
GettyChicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
The Bears hired Eberflus in 2022 and did not interview Harbaugh for the position at the time. However, Eberflus went 3-14 in his first season and failed to inspire confidence throughout the fan base.
Eberflus then led the Bears to a 7-10 record and speculation about his future with the organization circulated across the national media landscape. However, Chicago hired Kevin Warren as its president and CEO in January 2023 and handed him the reins in April of that year.
Warren, previously the Big 10 Commissioner between 2019-23, had a strained relationship with Harbaugh as one of the conference’s most recognizable names and faces over that span. So while the Bears organization had discussions about Harbaugh as a potential option, Warren’s presence made that outcome unlikely.
The Bears ultimately chose to stick with Eberflus, and the team has seemingly improved to this point in the season. However, Chicago has the most difficult schedule in the league down the stretch, and that includes a game next week against the two-win New England Patriots.
After hosting the Pats, the Bears have two games remaining against the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings — all NFC North Division opponents with a combined record of 19-6 through Week 9. Chicago also has to play the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers (4-4) and the Seattle Seahawks (4-5) during the second half of the campaign.
Jim Harbaugh Has Much Stronger Resumé Than Matt Eberflus
GettyLos Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh played quarterback for the Bears between 1987-93 and was a QB in the NFL through the 2000 season.
He got into coaching as the quarterbacks coach for the Las Vegas Raiders (then based in Oakland) in 20o2. He got his first head coaching job at San Diego University in 2004 before taking the helm at Stanford three years later.
Harbaugh turned around that program, transforming it into a 12-win team that captured an Orange Bowl victory in 2010. It was at that point the former collegiate and pro QB took over as head coach for the 49ers.
He went 64-44-1 in that job over a four-year period, leading the Niners to three straight appearances in the NFC Championship Game as well as a Super Bowl appearance in 2012.
He left the NFL and headed back to the collegiate ranks to take over at Michigan University, his alma mater, where he spent the next nine years. Harbaugh led the Wolverines to back-to-back College Football Playoff berths and captured a National Title following the 2023 campaign.
Harbaugh accepted the job to lead the Los Angeles Chargers ahead of this season and has the team at 5-3 and in second place in the AFC West Division at the season’s halfway point.
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Bears Ridiculed for Not Hiring Elite Coach, as Matt Eberflus Now on Hot Seat