Chicago Bears: Moving forward, nothing is guaranteed

Paging a defensive coordinator

If the Bears beat the Eagles on Sunday, there’s a chance that this never would become a real concern, but the fact of the matter is that there may have been serious ramifications beyond elimination.

Why is that? Well, John Elway possibly opts to roll with Mike Munchak as his new head coach. However, with the Bear’s season over, he interviewed Vic Fangio on Monday and offered him the job:

The trickle-down effect is incredibly unfortunate for the Bears. Not only were they eliminated from postseason play, but they lost a huge cog in the machine.

The first thing that needs to be said is that Fangio is so deserving of a head-coaching gig. Seriously. It stinks that he took the job, but go back to the end of the Marc Trestman-Phil Emery era. That defense was such an abomination. Honestly, you could make a case that a wet paper towel was a better (and cheaper) alternative.

Vic started turning it around in about a season’s time and with some additions and subtractions over the years, he turned it into a buzzsaw: his Mona Lisa.

I for one can’t wait to see what he does with Von Miller, Bradley Chubb, and the rest of those dudes. That said, I hope he returns the favor and gives us a free win when the Bears go to Denver next season. What a chess match that’ll be!

So who takes the newly vacated defensive coordinator job?

Todd Bowles nearly claimed it, but he valued loyalty and a promise to his old friend, Bruce Arians. The in-house option everyone talks about is Ed Donatell, the Bear’s DB coach. However, his contract is also up and there seems like a real possibility that he follows Fangio to the Mile High City to be his defensive coordinator.

Who does that leave us?

Gregg Williams would be a fun, interesting, and colorful hire given how he had some success at Cleveland last season as the interim head coach. Vance Joseph and Steve Wilkes could be options after they failed as head coaches. Chuck Pagano could resurface in the league if he can replicate the magic he had with the Baltimore Ravens. Kris Richard has been getting some head coaching consideration, but could always give himself another year to grow as a coordinator.

One name that deserves some consideration is Jack Del Rio. For some reason, Mark Davis figured that his 25-23 record in three years in the Black Hole wasn’t good enough at the end of the 2017 season.

So he fired him, hired Jon Gruden, and the Bears magically ended up with Mack. Life is a circle, man. So why not reunite Del Rio with one of his favorite defensive players?

Either way, the success the Bears had on defense last season probably won’t repeat itself, but more importantly, they need to find the right man to operate this incredibly talented unit. It is without a doubt going to be a sought after opening, but Ryan Pace must choose wisely.