Chris Ballard-Dave Toub reunion at Halas Hall could be answer for Bears'
In search of the next big thing in coaching, Bears officials embarked Friday to interview job candidates in Seattle and Denver. You wonder how they ever got west of the Rockies by chasing their tail.
Nothing against Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and Broncos 36-year-old offensive coordinator Adam Gase, two of the NFL's hottest assistant coaches, but the Bears have traveled down this road often since George Halas retired after the 1967 season. It seldom leads to prosperity. By now, the McCaskeys really should be tired of introducing themselves to their next head coach one month and asking them to save the franchise the next. By now, they should be out of the business of staging NFL head-coaching debuts.
League rules about postseason access to assistant coaches justify why the Bears asked for initial interviews with Quinn and Gase now rather than waiting until their teams are eliminated. What merits a closer look is why the Bears think entrusting success to an assistant coach they have no obvious connection with makes sense at all. My sense is the Bears approached the popular candidates for the same reason teenagers incessantly use Instagram: Because everybody else is doing it.
Quinn, 44, and Gase, along with Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, 51, represent the NFL coaching flavors of the month. All three might develop into quality head coaches. Or all three might become Marc Trestman. The Bears cannot afford to waste time with unknowns.
To call the Bears' coaching search puzzling would be as much of an understatement as calling team President Ted Phillips polarizing. The McCaskeys should devote every waking second to finding a general manager-coach combination with which they are familiar and offers them the stability they admire in the family-owned Steelers and Giants; stability that has eluded the Bears since George McCaskey became chairman in 2011 — two fired GMs and two former head coaches ago. The Bears thought they had a compatible duo in Phil Emery and Trestman but never anticipated Trestman's shortcoming managing players because nobody at Halas Hall had worked with him before January 2013.
If the Bears hire another stranger or novice, they deserve to stay with their noses pressed against the glass watching the NFC playoffs. If they start the rebuild by hiring a GM with impressive credentials that include a past with the Bears, they can restore some confidence lost in the process. That brings us to Chris Ballard, the highly regarded 45-year-old Chiefs director of player personnel.
When Ballard interviews with the Bears as scheduled, nobody will need an introduction. Ballard spent 11 years with the Bears as an area scout before ascending to director of pro scouting in 2012. Two league sources identified Ballard as the Bears' leading GM candidate based on that background.
In two years under Chiefs GM John Dorsey, Ballard played a major role revamping a roster that produced the franchise's first back-to-back winning seasons in 17 years. One executive who has worked with Ballard complimented his method of working closely with assistant coaches — which also speaks to spending seven formative seasons as an assistant at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Comparisons to Emery, a former Bears scout who also came from the Chiefs, would be inevitable but also unfair given Ballard's reputation as an up-and-comer. It’s why the Jets also requested permission to interview Ballard.
Hiring Ballard also could make the next coach easier to deduce if the Bears do what smart teams often do: Let the GM hire an acquaintance with whom he is aligned philosophically. A former NFL general manager called the relationship between a GM and coach the most important factor for a rebuilding, draft-driven team.
Thus, the arrival of Ballard could hasten the return of Dave Toub if the Bears buy into the same belief. Toub, 52, lacks head-coaching experience but, of all the coordinators in a weak field of candidates, provides instant credibility in Chicago. He embodies everything the Bears need: a tough-minded coach who embraces defense and special teams with the personality that commands respect in the locker room. He is ready to be an NFL head coach, somewhere.
Has any Bears assistant coach been missed more since Toub left as special-teams coordinator in 2013? Remember, he and Ballard have worked in the same NFL organization since 2004. Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, a runner-up to Trestman, was a Wisconsin teammate of Ballard's but would be harder to sell than Toub to a Bears fan base that obviously matters to McCaskey.
Mike Shanahan deserves a phone call. So does Rex Ryan, though the absence of the Bears from Ryan's interview itinerary suggests perhaps he's not as interested in a homecoming as many assume. Gary Kubiak, Jack Del Rio and Mike Smith would be worthwhile interviews. Doug Marrone wouldn't be — please explain what about a 15-17 record with the Bills and a classless exit established him a coaching superstar. You might hear other names floated as the Bears' next coach.
Don't forget Toub's, especially if you hear Ballard's announced as the Bears' next general manager.