Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said offensive coordinator Bruce Arians -- a candidate for the Bears' head coaching job -- still is in a Baltimore hospital and is in good spirits but will not be released until his blood pressure is "under control."
Arians was admitted to the hospital Sunday with an undisclosed illness and missed the Colts' 24-9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC wild-card game at M&T Bank Stadium.
''[He's] expected to be back any time -- any time real soon,'' Pagano said at a season wrap-up press conference Monday at the Colts' practice facility in Indianapolis. ''Every test they ran on Bruce -- and obviously they put him through a battery of tests from A to Z -- all have been negative.
''He's doing well. They would have let him come home early this morning. But whatever he's dealing with has affected his blood pressure and they're not going to release him until they get the blood pressure under control. Which they will. But we expect him here any time. I talked to his wife through texts this morning. And he's doing well and in good spirits and all that stuff. We'll be glad to get him back.''
When Arians returns, he might not stay for long. The Bears, Eagles and Browns have received permission to interview him for their head coaching vacancies. And the Chargers also have expressed interest.
''We do not want to lose Bruce Arians. We do not want to lose Bruce,'' Pagano said with emphasis. ''He is so valuable to this organization -- what he means to this organization and what he's done.
On the other hand, Pagano, who became a head coach for the first time at 52 after 28 years in football, knows it will be difficult to keep Arians if the Bears or other teams offer him a head coaching job.
''I want the best for Bruce,'' Pagano said. ''I want the best for his family. I want him to achieve and reach any goals he's had for himself throughout his coaching years. It's a hard spot. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.''
Arians, 60, has been an assistant coach in the NFL for 20 years. He was let go by the Pittsburgh Steelers after the 2011 season before being hired by the Colts. Pagano, who was the Ravens' defensive coordinator for four years prior to getting the Colts' job last year, said Arians ''is more than qualified'' to be a head coach in the NFL.
''Absolutely,'' Pagano said. ''We were together in Cleveland. Obviously played against him for four years in my time spent in Baltimore [when Arians was with the Steelers]. I just know throughout the league that he's very well respected.
''Everybody has a window. And there's going to be a time and a place that opportunity presents itself. Bruce has all the qualities to be outstanding head football coach. Great technician. He knows the game. He's great with players. Good leader. Good motivator. I'm not surprised that people would be interested [in] Bruce.''
i hope the Colts keep him
Pro football talk hadan inresting article on Emery. A lot of teams now feel that Emery is using the Al Davis method of self scouting. He's using the interviews to find out what other teams think of the Bears talent and what they would do to fix it. That Emery is not really intrested in hiring them but wants their intel on coaches he should hire, and how to fix his team. It worked for Davis, once, then the league caught on and people became a lot less intrested in the Raiders.
Nobody likes to be used, but another problem is, that this tells you what he thinks of the teams scouting and self scouting. It also tells you he has problems evaluating his own team. The Pats, Pitt, and other elite teams don't do this. I don't blame him for doing this as he does not really have a clue as to what he has so he is trying to get others to do his job for him. Eventually though the guys he is trying to interview will start saying no to the Bears just like they did to Davis.
Some think it is clever, but what it really shows you is that he is a bit lost. He could also be looking at some of these guys as coaches, that will not go over well. For a guy like Trestman, sure he may want to become the QB coach, but other guys think they are going into a head coaching interview and end up getting used. It's kind of dirty.
Arians is still in the hospital, it's not the flu. It's his blood pressure. Sullivan is a strong candidtate not getting mentioned much. Zimmer should be gettng a call even if he is defensive. Emery may be affraid to move on Sullivan because of the Tampa ties and not wanting to be viewed as Angelo 2.0. To bad if that is the case. Three of the top choices all have Emery issues, one is from Tampa, Arians is still in the hospital and have issues at 60 years of age, and Zimmer who has been excellent is a defensive guy.
Those are probably the top 3 coaching candidates. Emery also seems ot be ignoring former coaches like Brian Billick. For a guy who says he wants to be thorough, he sure seems to be limiting his options while exploring some really bad options. Nobody has done what he is doing to this extent, he seems lost, you figure he would have a really good idea of who he wanted when he wlaked in the door, but now he seems lost. No defensive coaches (Bill Belichick was a defensive coach), no former head coaches. But he will look at Special teams guys. I don't count Singletary as a real interview, it seems more a favor. So why would you look at 4-5 special teams coaches but not any defensive coaches? John Harbaugh coached special teams and defense. Why so many odd candidates?
I don't think this is going the way Emery wants, I don't think he knows, and he is going to be doing this for another week or two? Who does that, the Packers didn't do it, the Pats didn't, the Giant's didn't, Pitt didn't, the Broncos didn't, the Saints didn't the 49ers didn't, the SeaHawks didn't. These teams all knew who they wanted when they hired their current HC. Why doesn't Emery know, why is he tryign to use people from otherteams to scout his own team? That's his job. Something is off with all this.
To take it a step further, Emery was hired to thorough, decisive, and to take charge, this was going to be his plan and his team. He was brought in to help improve scouting, to improve the Bears drafts. Well his coaching search is only thorogh if you don't mind dropping college coaches, defensive coaches, and former head coaches. After 13 candidates and counting he still does not know who he wants, so not very decisive. As for taking charge and being the man, he has been mister consensus, all he talks about is we and us, and we are all, me and coach Smith will be drafting together, we, we ,we. These are the same things that got Angelo in trouble, this looks more like the 2010 OC search than anything new. And judging from his draft and the fact that he retained all of Angelo's guys, I can't say he is tearing up the draft war room and scouting department. He replaced 3 guys fired under Angelo, 1 or 2 of which where former Angelo guys that were here already. To top it off the whole thing is starting to feel like one big show. Much like his first interview.