Every coaching search features off-the-wall names and options who seemingly come out of nowhere.
But this one piques my interest:
Hearing that the #Bears interviewed team legend Mike Singletary for their defensive coordinator opening earlier this week.
My @TheAthleticNFL story on Singletary here (along with more on the DC search from @kfishbain):https://t.co/4kGHkZtXya
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) January 20, 2021
Reporting by The Athletic’s Adam Jahns and Kevin Fishbain unearths news that Mike Singletary interviewed for the Chicago Bears’ vacant defensive coordinator position.
Yes, that’s Bears legend Mike Singletary. The Mike Singletary who earned seven first-team All-Pro nominees and 10 Pro Bowl trips. Indeed, the same Mike Singletary who was the 1985 and 1988 AP Defensive Player of the Year, member of the Super Bowl XX champions, the All-1980s Team, and 1990 Walter Payton Man of the Year. And, yes, it’s the same Mike Singletary who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.
The Bears love their tradition. They rave about their culture. So it should be no surprise that they’d entertain the idea of interviewing Singletary. And yet, here I am … surprised. Singletary hasn’t coached in the NFL since 2016 when he was a defensive assistant for the Los Angeles Rams. His most recent professional coaching gig came as the head coach of the Alliance of American Football’s Memphis Express. Singletary’s squad went 2-6 before the league folded.
There was a time when Singletary was one of the league’s hotter names on the coaching market. He rose through the ranks coaching linebackers in Baltimore (2003-04) and San Francisco (2005-08) before earning an interim head-coaching position with the 49ers (2008) and ultimately getting two years (2009-10) as a head coach. That didn’t work out in San Francisco, but Singletary landed on his feet coaching linebackers with the Vikings (2011-13) with former teammate Leslie Frazier.
Hiring Singletary would be equal parts bold and risky. But that he’s even part of the process is interesting on its own. I’m curious to see where this hunt goes from here.