Mike Singletary, one of the Bears greatest players, will interview for the team's coaching vacancy, according to a league source.
The Hall of Fame linebacker is currently serving as a special assistant under another former Bears player, Leslie Frazier, the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Singletary was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, but he compiled an 18-22 record.
He was replaced by former Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh.
The Bears have requested permission from the Vikings to speak to Singletary and Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. The Tribune first reported the request for the two Viking assistants.
The Vikings season ended Saturday in a 24-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Priefer is one of the more respected special teams coordinators in the NFL. This season, he helped kicker Blair Walsh, a sixth-round pick, develop into a Pro Bowl player as a rookie. Walsh even set the league record for most 50-plus yard field goals (10) in a single season.
But Singletary is one of the biggest names in Bears history.
A 10-time Pro Bowl selection, he shined as the middle linebacker.
He's also had a distinguished coaching career, most notably working with star linebackers in Baltimore, particularly one named Ray Lewis.
If it's any consolation . . Singletary is a better "motivator" than a coach. He couldn't get it done in SF! He should be a motivational speaker or cheerleader. But, I see he did actually "win" a Super Bowl with the Bears over the Pats so maybe he can win. The jurys still out in Chi-town!
Mike's time with SF wasn't all that great. He had some problems dealing with the media and multi-million dollar players that wouldn't listen. I think he'd make a great defensive coordinator. I'd love to see him paired with Arians or McCoy.
Interesting tandem with Singletary and McCoy, Roy. I'm not sure Singletary is a good choice to play second fiddle to anyone, though. He is a hard-headed, tough-minded guy who seems to clearly have that "it's my way or the highway" attitude. Actually I hope the Bears keep the defensive coordinater they have, but he is likely to follow Smith, wherever he ends up.
I know he was just doing a favor to a former Bear great. But Emery needs to get on track. He has most of the personnel department working on this. And that's fine, but figure it out and quit trying to find secret intel from other teams about your team. It didn't work for Al Davis it's not going to work for Emery. The Al Davis model shows just this, you are no good at self scouting your own team, and your not sure what kind of coach you want. Did it help the Raiders? Take a look at the Raiders.
People are thinking well we have time, we have time. No his time could be spent doing better things. You know like scouting college talent, they have just a little film to go through. And he can't do a ton of accurate scouting until he knows what offense and defense the Bears are going to run.
What's up Bears fans? Did you see that BCS game last night where your Notre Dame gimps got pantsed big time? That was a REAL offensive line they faced. Take note, as that's what one looks like. Your J'Marcus Webb wouldn't even make 5th string if there was one. One of our tight ends is probably worth about 5 Kellen Davises.
That stone garden statue Lovie Smith, about the only thing he'd be good enough for down here is pickin' up dog mess outside Bryant-Denny Stadium. (That's assuming he could even both expending the energy to bend over or move one of his arms enough to do it.) Saban showed more emotion in the forth quarter with his team ahead 42-7 than that gimp would show in 50 lifetimes. We'd have run him out of town long ago. What took you so long? Even Gene The Chiseler got run out of Auburn after just 2 years of obviously going nowhere.
And don't draft center Barrett Jones. He'd kick Sybil Cutler's butt right then and there on the field if Cutler ever shoved him like he did Webb. You saw what happened to A.J. last night and those two guys are best friends.
Wait why are the Bears and Irsih synonyms? I hate the Irish and I am a bears fan. Them and the big 10 make up team over hyped. Glad Bama crushed them, you got to be a complete idiot if you thought the Irish had a shot, I mean a real moron.
But if I was you I would not be talking up beating the Irish, you just beat the great white hype, that's all. And your right about the Bama O-Line is excellent, it's not as good as the Texas A&M line but still really good. Would much rather have seen Bama go against Oregon, Florida, Georgia, Stanford, Texas A&M, the Irish had no buisness in the top 10. They are lucky Bama got board. Oh and just remember there are plenty of good Webb's in Alabama, we all saw one of them last night. I would trade her for JWebb any day of the week.
I would not worry about Jones being drafted by the Bears, love that guy, best center in college even on one leg. Bears don't draft top 10 interior linemen. But lets be honest, they are both red ##### and would probably get along just fine. Cutler would love him because he actually knows how to do his job, I would worry about Jones getting into it with the other linemen. You think the center is happy when his guys blow assignments. You must be crazy.
Hey, Bama Ball, did you play in that game? If not, then perhaps you should curtail stupid and unsupported contentions. I'm with anonymous in hating Notre Dame and was happy to see them lose, even to that arrogant Saban coaching. I even suggested that there was no reason for the __Sun Times__ to have a blog on Notre Dame . I don't know if anyone ever sends anything there or not, because I never visit it. She is certainly not my lady.
Singletary, deserves consideration. He made mistakes in SF, mostly with how he handled the media. Toub also would be a good home spun candidate.
Both bring Bears tough minded history with them, which I really like.
Only if Singletary promises to keep his pants on.