Pete Carroll Comeback Takes First Step With His First Coaching Interview

We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

Pete Carroll never lost his energy or excitement or expertise but somehow, over the last year, the NFL had decided he wasn’t needed in the game anymore. Well, that could be changing with the Chicago Bears this week.

Carroll will interview with the Bears for their open head coaching job on Thursday, a league source confirmed. ESPN was first to report the team’s intentions.

Carroll Gets First Opportunity Since Firing

That interview will be Carroll’s first since he was fired by the Seattle Seahawks exactly 364 days prior.

It’s stunning that he hasn’t been in any sort of significant demand before this but, well, he’s 73 years old and would be 74 the first week of the coming NFL season.

And, yes, the NFL is typically a younger man’s league. Ask 72-year-old Bill Belichick, who didn’t get hired after being fired in New England last year and decided to take the North Carolina job this hiring cycle rather than bet on the NFL hiring merry-go-round.

Carroll has been interested in the Bears job for some time, per sources. He’s been interested in a couple of others, too, but interest has to be a two-way street and Carroll was a victim of some unrequited love. 

But he’s going for an interview on this one.

He coached the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory in 2013, and years before that, led USC to a pair of national championships in 2003 and 2004. Carroll left his role with the Seahawks last year after 14 seasons but remained with the organization as an adviser – a mostly ceremonial role that rarely called on him to advise. 

Carroll Brings Experience Bears Lack

So why are the Bears interested?

General manager Ryan Poles said this week his team will “cast a wide net” to lure candidates for interviews. That includes coaches with “different backgrounds from offense, defense, special teams, college, pro.”

Carroll obviously fits that description and one other that Poles didn’t mention: He’s won. He’s experienced.

The Bears need that. They’ve spent – wasted, really – a lot of time and resources on first-time head coaches going all the way back to 1993.

The team’s first-time NFL head coaches since then:

1. Dave Wannstedt.
2. Dick Jauron.
3. Lovie Smith.
4. Marc Trestman.
5. Matt Nagy.
6. Matt Eberflus.

Smith is the only name from that list that enjoyed any sort of consistent success. Jauron did have one very good season in 2001.

The Bears are not solely focused on Carroll. 

Bears ‘Casting A Wide Net’

Their interview list includes Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Giants assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, and former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.

Carroll has done something none of those other candidates have done: Won a Super Bowl as a head coach.

And, look, Vrabel would be a get. Like Carroll, he’s had playoff success as a head coach. But that’s what New England is thinking as well. And he loves New England. So it would be an upset if he goes elsewhere.

Johnson is perhaps the second-most sought-after candidate this hiring cycle. But he’s being very selective. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Patriots will interview Johnson. 

Teams can only conduct virtual interviews with prospective coaches until the day after the divisional round ends, Jan. 20, when in-person interviews can begin. 

Second interviews can begin Jan. 27, one day after conference championships (the week off before Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans on Feb. 9). These rules only apply to coaches on current playoff staffs.

Carroll, something a free agent, doesn’t have to abide by those rules. He’s off to Chicago’s interview.