Who will the next Chicago Bears head coach be? That’s the question fans and media are asking at this point. With the team 3-7 and hurtling towards another losing season, John Fox appears to be on life support. He’s currently flirting with the worst winning percentage a Bears head coach has ever had. There just isn’t a way the team could justify keeping him around at this point. Right?
At least that’s the hope. So one must presume GM Ryan Pace might be considering a change. Thus the question must be asked. Who will it be? Perhaps the more important question is how do they find a good one. This can often be a subjective situation. Meaning one coach who might thrive with one team may not do so with another.
One reason the Steelers continue to have success is because they always hire their head coaches according to a specific type. It turns out that if people looked closely they’d see the most successful Bears head coaches all have certain qualities in common. Qualities that fit the city and team they represented.
When beginning that search for the next man up, here are the priorities they must keep in mind.
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#1: Young but experienced
Twice now the Bears have explored the realm of older coaches, both times with less than ideal results. Marc Trestman was 57-years old when he took over the team in 2013. He hadn’t been in the league since 2004, spending his time between college and mostly the CFL. When Fox arrived in 2015 he was turning 60. History shows that aside from a few rare exceptions older head coaches don’t pan out, particularly in Chicago.
At the same time they must also bring experience to the table.
The three most successful Bears coaches to date were all much younger when getting their shots. George Halas himself was a player and coach in 1920. He was just 25-years old. By the time he retired to become a full-time coach he was still just 34. Mike Ditka was 43 when Halas hired him in 1982 and had spent the previous nine seasons as assistant head coach in Dallas. As for Lovie Smith he got the headset at 46-years old after three years as a coordinator and assistant head coach in St. Louis.
#2: Learned from other coaching greats
One truth that is self-evident with many great coaches in NFL history is they got their most vital lessons from other great coaches of prior eras. Bill Belichick learned from Bill Parcells. Bill Walsh learned from Paul Brown. Chuck Noll learned from Sid Gillman. Such was the case for these Bears as well. Each of them got an invaluable education on winning football during their rise to prominence.
George Halas: Bob Zuppke
Modern fans won’t have any clue who Robert Zuppke is and that’s a crying shame. He’s still arguably one of the greatest college football coaches in history. He transformed the Illinois program into a powerhouse and ran it for an astounding 29 years from 1913 to 1941, winning four national championships. Halas got a chance to play for him, even helping the Illini win the Big Ten title in 1918.
Mike Ditka: George Halas and Tom Landry
As a Hall of Fame tight end Ditka got a treasured opportunity to learn from Halas himself in the early 1960s, winning an NFL championship in 1963. Then by the start of the 1970s he’d landed with the Dallas Cowboys where Tom Landry was in the midst of building his own Hall of Fame legacy. After retiring in 1973 Ditka joined their coaching staff and continued to learn under Landry for another eight years.
Lovie Smith: John Cooper and Tony Dungy
Smith actually got to learn from top coaches at both the college and pro levels. As a player at Tulsa he learned under John Cooper. After a successful run there he eventually went to Ohio State where he revived the program to win a Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, finishing second in the national rankings twice. When Smith got to the NFL as a coach, he was brought aboard by future Hall of Famer Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay.
#3: Come from a tough background
One thing about Chicago is in many ways it’s still a blue collar town. People living here understand it takes a certain kind of toughness to survive and thrive within its limits. It’s no surprise its people demand that sort of toughness from its coaches and players. That is why its most successful coaches all came from “challenging backgrounds.”
George Halas – served in World War I
Halas was the son of Eastern European immigrants and worked part of his early life at an electric company. This was before he signed up to serve as an ensign in the Navy during World War I. Nothing hardens a man to life’s hardships more than participating in a life or death struggle. Is it any coincidence that Halas became so active and ambitious after he returned in 1918?
Mike Ditka – grew up in mining area of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is known for its coal and steel communities. Those tend to produce working families that learn how to survive with minimal financial security. Kids are raised to be tough to such hardships and that was Ditka. In fact he stated during subsequent interviews that his father was not above providing harsh physical discipline to that effect.
Lovie Smith – a black man raised in Texas
Facts are facts. Texas was part of the slave-holding states during its peak in the 1800s and joined the Confederacy to protect it during the Civil War. Since then the state has always been a hot zone for racial tensions. So imagine being a black man who grew up during the height of the civil rights movements in the 1950s and 60s. That was Smith. If he could deal with that, then coaching a pro football team was a vacation by comparison.
If and when the Bears hire their next head coach, it can’t just be about whether he can help Mitch Trubisky be a better quarterback. He must embody the attitude and mentality that makes Chicago what it is. They must be young, experienced, vigorous, well-educated, and tough.
