Over 20 years ago, the Bears had a vacancy at their head coaching position, and they passed on an opportunity to interview Bill Belichick.
Former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka once said the past is for cowards and losers. But even he may admit his former team whiffed on a potential franchise-altering move.
No, this isn’t rehashing the debate between Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but instead the Bears missing out on arguably the greatest head coach in the history of the league.
Over 20 years ago, the Bears had a vacancy at their head coaching position following the firing of Dave Wannstedt in 1998. The team looked at candidates such as Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis and Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Dave McGinnis, who was at the center of an embarrassing premature news conference initiated by then-team president Michael McCaskey.
But one more name stood out among the group; New York Jets assistant head coach Bill Belichick, who had returned to a coordinator role a few years prior after he was fired as the Cleveland Browns head coach in 1995.
According to the New York Times, Belichick was on the short list of candidates to replace Wannstedt, but McCaskey didn’t seem interested in the future Hall of Famer.
“I am getting a little bit to the point where I want to bring it to a close,” he said, indicating McCaskey was ready to hire one of the prior interviewees and not bring in additional candidates.
After failing to hire McGinnis, the Bears went with Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Dick Jauron, who compiled a 35-45 record in the regular season in five years. Belichick, meanwhile, spent one more year with the Jets before becoming the head coach of the New England Patriots, where he would go on to win 17 division titles, nine conference championships, and six Super Bowl titles with quarterback Tom Brady.
This news, recently rediscovered by Windy City Gridiron’s Jack Silverstein and Bleacher Nation’s Luis Medina, is yet another difficult chapter of what may have been for the Bears.
Unfortunately, it isn’t the only coaching blunder to happen in the last 20 years. The other major miss took place in 2013, when general manager Phil Emery picked Marc Trestman over reigning NFL coach of the year Bruce Arians as his head coach following the firing of Lovie Smith.
While it’s fun to imagine what the Bears might have been under Belichick, the decision was made long ago. There’s also no way of knowing if Belichick would have even come close to the success he’s enjoyed in New England had he ended up in Chicago.
Still, one interview could have changed the entire league and brought championship glory back to the charter franchise.
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