NFL rumors: Pete Carroll to interview for Bears head coaching vacancy
Add a Super Bowl-winning coach as the latest candidate for the Bears’ coaching vacancy.
The Bears are interviewing former Jets, Patriots, USC and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
Carroll, 73, has been interested in the Bears opening.
The longtime coach won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Seahawks and coached Seattle for 14 seasons, compiling a 137-89-1 record with 10 playoff appearances. He developed the Seahawks into a perennial playoff threat in his tenure in Seattle, winning 5 NFC West titles.
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In 2023, the Seahawks finished 9-8 and Carroll and Seattle agreed to part ways at the end of the season. He stayed with the Seahawks as an advisor and is free to interview immediately with Chicago.
With Seattle, Carroll led the Seahawks to the playoffs in his first year in 2011, losing to the Bears in the Divisional round, the last time Chicago won a playoff game.
In his third year in Seattle, the Seahawks drafted Russell Wilson, and the duo combined for an 11-5 record in his rookie campaign.
That was the building block for a fruitful relationship.
Wilson blossomed from a third-round pick into a franchise and Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Wilson was 104-53-1 in his 10 seasons in Seattle. That kind of success would be a tantalizing proposition with Caleb Williams entering his second season in the league.
Carroll also had success in his first year without Wilson, naming Geno Smith the starter in 2022 and finishing with a 9-8 record and a playoff appearance.
Prior to Seattle, Carroll was the head coach at USC (Williams’ alma mater) from 2001 to 2009, posting a 97-19 record with 2 national championships. He coached the Patriots from 1997 to 1999, going 27-21 with 2 playoff appearances and was 6-10 in one season as the Jets head coach in 1994.