Bear Digest

Would Bears Also Consider Josh McCown?

Josh McCown was always a heady, positive force for the Bears as a backup over three seasons and it should surprise no one if he eventually becomes an NFL head coach but should Chicago be a place he interviews now for head coach with no experience?
Gene Chamberlain|
Would Bears Also Consider Josh McCown?
Would Bears Also Consider Josh McCown?

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The game of musical chairs in the hiring process just started to begin in the NFL Friday with the hiring by the New York Giants of GM Joe Schoen.

Schoen was a candidate in Chicago, as well, along with everybody who it seems has scouted someone in the NFL. 

Now everyone can start scrambling for hires, a  GM here, then a coach. Everyone, that is, except the Bears, who proceed at their snail's pace. 

They still have coaching candidates to talk with next week, including Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. 

The one really hot offensive coordinator all along has been Buffalo's Brian Daboll, who interviewed earlier in Chicago. He hasn't even been mentioned for a second interview here like Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has. Then again no one else has, either, but that's the real problem with this siege-like state at Halas Hall.

The Giants have their GM and he has past ties to Daboll. They talked to him. The Miami Dolphins have a coach opening and also apparently would like to talk with Daboll, who they have faced regularly in the same division. 

This could leave the Bears outside looking in at Daboll if they want him, and it might result in a defensive hiring for Bears head coach like Leslie Frazier or a veteran offensive coach with past ties to Bill Polian, who is running the show at Halas Hall. That would be former Lions coach Jim Caldwell, hired once in the past by Polian. 

Is it possible the list could expand? It's late in the game for it but there is suddenly a hot new candidate who spoke with the Houston Texans. At least he's hot to the Texans, who would hire about anyone with a whistle and clipboard these days.

Could Josh McCown go right into being a head coach only three years after playing in the NFL?

Bears fans may remember McCown from his three seasons in Chicago, 2011-13, although he was cut in 2012 before returning to work wonders under Marc Trestman.

McCown was one of the most affable quarterbacks ever in the Bears locker room, a sort of happier version of Nick Foles but much more mobile. 

Fans saw him put up a passer rating of 109.0 in his five starts and eight games while Jay Cutler had injury problems in 2013 and wondered why they didn't simply let him continue playing. If not for McCown, they may never have arrived at that final game of the year needing to beat Green Bay to win the division title—before Cutler and the Bears defense couldn't properly finish the task.

McCown hadn't been as effective in only three appearances and two starts in 2011 when called on, but he was much more effective than Caleb Hanie had been in 2011 after Cutler was injured. 

When the Bears needed McCown, he left coaching high school football and returned to the sidelines in the NFL. So he has had a very small amount of coaching experience already.

However, McCown and his vibrant personality stuck around the NFL after he left Chicago because he could play efficiently on short notice. 

Not known for relevant bold statements, it was surprisingly Cutler who put it best about McCown then.

"It's a grind-it-out-league and you need some optimism and some positivity, and he brings that," Cutler said. "If I'm here, I want him here. That's how I feel about it." 

Those writers who covered the team then discussed more than a few times whether McCown might be NFL coaching material some day, just not necessarily so soon after his playing career ended. 

In fact, has it even ended? He was on Houston's practice squad last year and even was interviewed for the Texans' head-coaching vacancy before David Culley's ill-fated season.

Should the Bears consider bringing in their former backup quarterback for an interview? 

He's 42 years old, already older than Matt Nagy was when they hired him.

There is no doubt Justin Fields could benefit from being around a coach/former player with McCown's knowledge and attitude.

However, hiring a head coach right off a practice squad sounds more like the desperate move of a doomed team like Houston has been for a few years. Then again, there is that positive approach and a wealth of knowledge about offenses and getting ready on short notice. 

McCown probably should be a quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator before jumping right into the fray, but a team needing a head coach could sure do a lot worse than hire someone with his attitude.

The Bears did do much worse when they hired two straight coaches after Lovie Smith.

This Bears coaching hunt should be a bit above that level of desperation but there will be plenty of interested fans in Chicago watching McCown's progress if he really does get hired in Houston.

If he isn't hired by the Texans, the new Bears coach should keep him in mind when it comes to hiring quarterback coaches. Or maybe even a backup quarterback, after all, the Bears will probably need one this year.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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