Tag: bears head coach

Report: Matt Eberflus expected to return as Bears head coach in 2024

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero expect the Bears to keep Matt Eberflus as head coach for the 2024 season.

Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus’ seat might be cooling off as the end of the season draws closer. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, the Bears are expected to retain Eberflus for next season as the team’s head coach with a strong finish over the final two games.

In the report, Rapoport said he “would be surprised as of right now if Eberflus was not back” for the Bears. Rapoport also said he has heard “nothing but positive vibes from Chicago” regarding the coach.

Eberflus was hired in 2022 as general manager Ryan Poles’ first move of his tenure. He slogged through a 3–14 season, and after a disastrous start to his second year, calls for his job became loud and frequent. But to Eberflus’ credit, he’s helped level the ship and get the team on track by playing better football. The Bears are 4-2 in their last six games and are looking to finish the year on a high note.

With two games to go in the season, Eberflus’ future will become crystal clear. But it looks like he’s on track for at least one more season as head coach.

Could Pat Fitzgerald be the Bears’ next head coach?

While Matt Nagy’s job is safe heading into 2020, could another down year open the door for Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald to take over?

With just one game remaining in the 2019 NFL season, the offseason coaching carousel is beginning to take off, with some names already popping up on certain team’s radars.

Others, however, are supposedly distancing themselves from open positions around the league, such as Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald. But could he be waiting for an opportunity closer to home?

According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, the Wildcats coach recently declined an opportunity to interview for the Carolina Panthers vacant coaching position, a position that was open after the of firing longtime head coach Ron Rivera earlier this season.

This isn’t the first time Fitzgerald’s name has been linked with open coaching positions, whether it’s the NFL or the NCAA, but La Canfora writes the 45-year old coach would only leave Evanston if the Bears’ head coaching job opens up:

There is a strong sense among NFL executives that if Fitzgerald ever did leave Northwestern, it would be for the Chicago Bears job. He may well end up as a lifer with the Wildcats, but the Illinois native has been linked to the Bears in the past, and Matt Nagy will enter 2020 on the proverbial hot seat after his offense, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and the entire Bears team regressed significantly this season after reaching the playoffs in 2018.

After capturing the NFC North division title with a 12-4 record in 2018, coach Matt Nagy and the Bears followed it up with a disappointing 2019 season with a 7-8 record through 15 games. Nagy’s job is safe going into 2020, but he and general manager Ryan Pace could be on the hot seat with another down year.

Fitzgerald, meanwhile, has been Northwestern’s head coach since 2006, compiling a record of 99-79. Despite a lackluster 2019 season in which the Wildcats went 3-9, Fitzgerald led his team to nine bowl appearances during his tenure, including Northwestern’s first bowl victory in 64 years when they defeated Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl back in the 2012-13 season.

Fitzgerald has given no indication he’ll leave Northwestern and he was not interviewed for the Bears’ coaching position two years ago when they hired Nagy, but depending on what happens in the next season or two, the front office could set their sights to the north shore for their next head coach.

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