There are predictions about who will be the next Chicago Bears head coach, and then there are bold predictions.
In a recent breakdown of every NFL head coaching vacancy and the candidate most likely to land the job, the Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt made a very bold prediction for the Bears.
The choice? 73-year-old Pete Carroll.
"If the Bears are looking for a proven leader, there isn’t a better candidate than Carroll," Rosenblatt wrote. "Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is the sexiest name of this cycle (as he was for the last one), but nobody knows what sort of leader he’ll be as a head coach. Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is an obvious candidate because of his ties to (Caleb) Williams from USC, but Kingsbury was underwhelming as the Arizona Cardinals head coach. Ron Rivera has past experience and was a winner in Carolina, but the Commanders struggled under his watch."
Sure, Carroll has a proven track record, and there's no doubt he'd have the respect of Bears players inside the locker room, but Chicago needs more than just a two-year bridge coach who can get the franchise moving in the right direction. They need a coach who will pair with Williams for many years. We're talking a decade-ish.
Carroll won't hang around that long. He might have two solid years of coaching in him, and even that's a stretch; he'd be 75.
Carroll has 18 years of head coaching experience, dating back to his tenure with the New York Jets and New England Patriots. He found his groove in Seattle, where he spent 14 seasons with the Seahawks and amassed a 137-89-1 record, including a Super Bowl victory in 2013.
But that feels like an eternity ago, and it sort of was. His last three seasons in Seattle were forgettable. He went 26-26 over that time.
Still, Carroll is one of the most highly decorated coaching candidates in the 2025 cycle, and smoke continues to rise around his connection to the Bears.
