With the 2024 season in the books for the Chicago Bears, the attention turns to how they’re going to improve for next season, and that all begins with their search for the next head coach.
After firing head coach Matt Eberflus following a Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions, the team turned to Thomas Brown for what would be his second promotion on the year, going from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to interim head coach.
Getting off to a horrendous start in his tenure, Brown was able to secure his first career coaching win with the Bears defeating the Green Bay Packers in Week 18 to close out the season. With all attention turning to the search for the next head coach, there will be no shortage of names, plenty of rumors to separate truth from false reports, and everything in between.
We ranked the top five candidates for the Bears head coach vacancy:
1. Ben Johnson, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator
The favorite throughout the entire season, Ben Johnson’s first meeting with the Bears could happen this week. Due to the Lions winning the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, any interviews with Johnson or defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn must be completed before the divisional round of the playoffs. Johnson continues to show his excellence as Detroit’s offensive coordinator, and his name has been most attached to the Chicago vacancy. Detroit has been one of the premier offenses in the league, much to the credit of Johnson, who would be the perfect offensive guru to pair with Caleb Williams moving forward.
2. Mike Vrabel, Former Tennessee Titans head coach
The clock is ticking very fast on a potential pursuit of Mike Vrabel and Sunday, things got even tougher for Chicago if they’re giving him strong consideration for the job. Following their pointless win in Week 18 that dropped them from the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft to the fourth overall, the New England Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo. After already interviewing with the New York Jets this past week, Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls in New England now has an inside track to the job for the team he once thrived for, if he wants it. Vrabel is just as pursued, if not even more pursued than Johnson, and that will put pressure on the Bears to make a decision sooner than may want to.
3. Anthony Weaver, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator
A new name that was brought into the rumor mill for the Bears vacancy this week, has to be given higher consideration due to the timing of the report. The Miami Dolphins, for as bad and disappointing as their season was, entered Week 18 with the third ranked total defense in the NFL, but got picked apart by Aaron Rodgers in the finale of the season. There’s no denying that the preference for the next head coach would be an offensive minded coach to get the most out of Williams, but Weaver presents a no nonsense attitude persona that would definitely be an improvement to the locker room.
4. Brian Flores, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator
Brian Flores gets his place on this list because he is continuously mentioned among top candidates for the head coaching job. He may not get as serious contention as others, but Flores has put together a fantastic season together as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. Entering the final regular season game, the Vikings had the second-best run defense in the NFL, and he’s well-known for the heavy blitz pressure he brings on defense. There’s more to the complicated story of Flores, a former head coach for the Dolphins, but he is certainly the alpha personality that many have mentioned is a necessity for this team.
5. Pete Carroll – Former Seattle Seahawks head coach
There will be plenty of debate of who the best fifth choice should be, or the final name to make this list. Most notably missing is Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, but he’s already been interviewed by the Bears last year and was passed over after they hired Shane Waldron, who was fired after his first nine games. For that reason alone, there may not be mutual interest for that connection, moving on to Carroll who had his name recently pop into the mix. Carroll, who took the 2024 season off from coaching, is reportedly eager to get back in the league and his resume can’t be matched. 10 playoff appearances, five division titles, and one Super Bowl championship, Carroll knows what it takes to win in the league, is well respected by his players and fellow coaches, and would be quite the big name hire for Chicago to pull off.
This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears head coach: Ranking the top candidates
