The Chicago Bears still have an opening for their head coaching position, but one candidate who had a lot to offer the team has already pulled out of the running, as Baltimore Ravens head coach Gary Kubiak opted to stay with his team on Sunday night.
The move means that the Bears are even more likely to pursue guys without head coaching experience at the NFL level, with former Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone possibly being the only exception to that statement.
The question that Bears fans, and some NFL observers, are asking themselves is this: Is Kubiak's decision to not even talk to the Bears an indictment of the organization?
Thinking about that question, there is an element of truth to it. After all, this is a team that has historically tightened the reins on coaches whenever they’ve been able to. They’ve saddled coach after coach with Jay Cutler as their quarterback, and with Marc Trestman’s failure in the Windy City, it’s apparent that a different coach isn’t going to make much of a difference with the quarterback. They have a new general manager in Ryan Pace who has been given authority over all football decisions, but he’s never held a G.M. job before, so there’s a lot of uncertainty in the front office.
All of those factors could conceivably scare a coach like Kubiak away, but Bears fans shouldn’t be panicking too much. After all, Kubiak said all along that his preference was to stay in Baltimore as the offensive coordinator, and if he really likes working alongside John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco, then why should he jump at the first chance to leave? Kubiak has been there and done that as an NFL head coach, and if he can be paid well to do something he truly loves doing, why uproot his family again?
The Kubiak decision does point out some obstacles that the Bears have to overcome, but it doesn’t mean that the team isn’t a destination that good coaches will consider. Pace will get someone else to fill the job that is qualified to do so, and the Kubiak thing will be a distant memory when he does.
