Chicago Bears want to interview Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman: report

Marcus Freeman is about to lead Notre Dame into the national championship game, but one NFL franchise is apparently interested in talking to him about its own coaching position.

Freeman is a target of the Chicago Bears organization, which wants to interview him for its head coaching vacancy, according to a report from NFL Media.

The Bears are looking to interview Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman for their HC opening, per @TomPelissero. pic.twitter.com/fjujUFyVKW
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 12, 2025

Notre Dame is set to play against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 20, with Freeman on the sideline.

But that hasn’t kept the Bears from doing “extensive research” on Freeman for the last several months, according to the reporting.

Freeman just turned 39 and is in his third season as Notre Dame’s head coach after taking over the program from Brian Kelly, who left the school to coach LSU.

Notre Dame is 14-1 this season entering the title game, defeating Indiana, SEC champion Georgia, and Big Ten runner-up Penn State in the College Football Playoff so far.

Freeman is 33-9 in his tenure with Notre Dame, and has improved in each of his three seasons as head coach after going 9-4 overall in the 2022 season.

A former Ohio State linebacker, Freeman worked as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator for a year before becoming head coach and held the same position at Cincinnati from 2017 to 2020.

This isn’t the first time that Freeman’s name has been connected with a possible departure to the NFL, but the coach has distanced himself from those rumors so far.

“I don’t know when they announced it, I can’t remember, but about a week or two ago, they announced another long contract here at Notre Dame. So I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” Freeman told ESPN’s SportsCenter about that NFL talk.

More ... Marcus Freeman addresses NFL coaching rumors

That contract did go public last month, as Notre Dame announced a four-year extension to the three years Freeman already had remaining on his six-year deal signed in December 2021.

The terms of that deal include a raise from $7 million to more than $9 million per year, in addition to bonuses for reaching the College Football Playoff.

Chicago is searching for a head coach after making a midseason coaching change for the first time in its long franchise history.

The team fired head coach Matt Eberflus after his 4-8 start this season and then finished the year 1-4 under interim coach Thomas Brown.

Chicago lost 10 straight games but won its regular season finale against rival Green Bay.

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