The greatest living NFL coach won’t be the Bears’ next coach — or any other NFL team’s, either.
Six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick instead plans to coach North Carolina on a three-year $30 million contract, per multiple reports Wednesday afternoon. It will be his first-ever foray into college football. The move, which would have seemed shocking just two weeks ago, might ensure that Don Shula remains atop the NFL’s all-time wins list. Belichick, who passed George Halas in 2022, needs just 15 more to pass the former Dolphins great.
Belichick, who turns 73 in April, was available and the Bears had an opening after firing head coach Matt Eberflus two weeks ago. It would have been difficult for the Bears to hire Belichick — or anyone — right away while still satisfying the Rooney Rule. Still, he wanted to coach, and the Bears didn’t pounce.
Consider this the Reverse Harbaugh. Last year, the Bears didn’t have a coaching vacancy and Harbaugh was still employed at the college level when general manager Ryan Poles was asked about him.
“I haven’t talked to Jim,” Poles said. “He’s the coach at Michigan.”
Within weeks, he was the coach of the Chargers, a team that is 8-5 and fighting for a playoff berth in his first season.
Time will tell if the Bears regret passing on Belichick the way they must regret not pursuing Harbaugh. Or passing on drafting Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Belichick was first linked to the UNC job last week. At the school — a basketball school at that — he’ll get control that NFL teams have been loathe to give him. He was interviewed by just one NFL team last offseason after he and the Patriots parted ways — and the Falcons eventually decided to hire Raheem Morris instead. The Falcons were concerned about whether Belichick would insist on personnel control after serving as the Patriots’ de facto general manager for most of his career.
The Patriots’ draft picks struggled to thrive toward the end of his tenure, particularly without the presence of Tom Brady, perhaps the NFL’s greatest quarterback ever. In Belichick’s final four seasons, the Patriots went 29-38. They finished 2023 with a 4-13 record, tied for the second-worst in the NFL.