Chicago Bears request permission to interview Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy

The Bears have been studying potential coaching hires for two months. On Monday, they announced their interest in the Cowboys HC.

Things are getting interesting, really fast in the NFL, and as always the Dallas Cowboys find themselves at the center of the universe.

The day after the NFL regular season concludes is known as Black Monday, and it’s nothing like the discount deals people are used to getting on Black Friday. Rather, this is the day when most teams fire head coaches if they are looking to go in another direction. In 2024, things have been a little off, with three teams (New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears) firing their head coaches during the season.

The New England Patriots didn’t even let things get to Monday, firing Jerod Mayo immediately after their loss on Sunday. The Cowboys’ season ended at the same time as the Patriots, but they have yet to decide which direction they are going with head coach Mike McCarthy.

And apparently, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears want Dallas to declare something sooner rather than later. The Bears have requested permission from Jerry Jones to interview McCarthy for their head coaching position.

Earlier in the week, Cowboys Wire identified the Bears as the best of five potential landing spots for McCarthy if he were to coach somewhere else in 2025.

This one seems way to brilliant of a match. The Bears love safe and tradition and after the Matt Eberflus debacle, turning to a former NFC North emporer makes a ton of sense. McCarthy knows how to coach for cold weather, and his ability to turn Dak Prescott into a MVP-caliber signal caller seems like the perfect type of relationship match for a young Caleb Williams.

McCarthy, whose contract is set to expire next week (January 14), has had his situation discussed for an entire calendar year. His lame-duck campaign ended a streak of three-straight 12-win seasons and ended 7-10, out of the playoffs.

After spending the last two months surveying the landscape, the Bears would probably like to move quickly to get interviews setup and make a decision on who will guide them moving forward. They will be interviewing several candidates and from their perspective they want to meet with everyone on their list as soon as possible.

And while they can’t force Jerry Jones to allow them to interview McCarthy, it does put the spotlight directly on him. Jones was willing to just let Jason Garrett’s contract expire in 2020, watching the rest of the NFL coaching searches proceed while Dallas allowed Garrett to conduct exit interviews and play out the string.

However now he either has to grant permission to the Bears, signaling McCarthy will not be retained, or give up some negotiating leverage (if he wants to bring him back) by blocking the interview. The other option is to block the interview and still not retain McCarthy; which will make Jones look horrible, although some will argue his reputation isn’t too shiny at the moment.