Chicago Bears should target Josh McDaniels as their next head coach

If the Chicago Bears decide to move on from John Fox, following another let-down season, they should look to hire New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their next head coach.

The Chicago Bears are under a ton of pressure to show major improvement in 2017. After all, under the leadership of current head coach, John Fox, the Bears won just nine games over the past two seasons. Not a recipe for long-term success.

While many don’t expect Mitchell Trubisky to play snaps under center anytime soon for the Bears, his development over the upcoming season will ultimately decide whether the Bears become a true championship contender.

Since that’s the case, barring a drastic improvement in wins this upcoming season, the Bears would be wise to part ways with John Fox. In turn, they should look to hire New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as his replacement.

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McDaniels enjoyed plenty of success over the years with the Patriots. He is known for being an excellent offensive play-caller, always putting his quarterbacks in the best position to succeed.

Look no further than the recent play of Patriots’ backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Forced into game-action to begin the 2016 season, thanks to Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension, the young signal-caller played well in his limited time on the field.

In two games before going down with an injury, Garoppolo regularly drove the Patriots’ offense down the field for scores. He threw four touchdown passes while not throwing any interceptions.

While there are plenty of teams around the league that would do anything to acquire a young, talented quarterback like Garoppolo, talent alone doesn’t guarantee success. How that talent develops over the years determines how successful young players ultimately become.

Garoppolo, just 25 years old, worked with McDaniels since entering the league in 2014. Much like Trubisky now, Garoppolo was not ready to become an effective starter right out of college. He needed time to learn a pro-style offense, as well as how to read and diagnose opposing defensive coverages. Only then could Garoppolo put his talent to good use.

Ryan Pace bet the franchise’s future on the play of Trubisky. Pace’s legacy as a general manager is now tied with his young quarterback. He’ll strive to do all he can to put Trubisky in the best position to thrive as a franchise quarterback for years to come.

While Fox worked with some highly regarded quarterbacks over the years (Peyton Manning most recently), he is not known as an offensive-minded coach. His specialty is defense, although the Bears’ defense under his watch hasn’t been all that stellar, to say the least.

The Bears would, as a result, be better served to hire an offensive-minded coach to take over the team once Trubisky is ready to take over the reins as the starting quarterback. That could happen after this upcoming season.

Sure, the Bears already tried that maneuver once before, hiring Marc Trestman, an offensive-minded guru in 2013. While Trestman never flourished during his brief two-year stay with the Bears, his situation coming in was much different from McDaniels.

Trestman never was a head coach of an NFL team, prior to signing on with the Bears. Furthermore, he was away from the NFL for some time prior to 2013, coaching in Canada the prior five seasons.

McDaniels, on the other hand, has coached offense in the NFL since 2004. He has plenty of experience being an effective offensive coordinator. In addition, he was the head coach of the Denver Broncos in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Even more important, McDaniels learned the art of coaching from perhaps the greatest NFL head coach in history, Bill Belichick.

Given McDaniels’ current success in New England, many teams expressed interest in him. His coaching services have been a hot commodity the past few offseasons now. And that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

Whether he’s interested in leaving the Patriots to become a head coach for another team remains to be seen. If Pace looks to make a head coaching change in the future, McDaniels should be the first guy he calls.

Maybe the thought of working with Mitchell Trubisky will be enticing enough to lure McDaniels out of New England.

Of course, all of that depends on how the Bears perform in 2017.

Safe to say that John Fox has his work cut out for him. Of course, if the Bears won more under Fox, worries about his job security go away.

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