Red flags waving over prominent Bears coaching candidates

Without a serious thumb down on the team, Dunne wrote he was told there was "...a soft mindset that'd constantly rear its ugly head.' "

Bears players this past season got angry over the lack of accountability with Eberflus, particularly the situation with Tyrique Stevenson being only slightly penalized for the Hail Mary pass fiasco.

You'd have to wonder if they were simply stepping into more of the same trouble with McCarthy, unless he was able to explain this situation better to interviewers.

Another issue is one that would not go over well with the Bears locker room, where the defense had been carrying a team with league's last-ranked offense. McCarthy was described as being totally focused on offense and having little to no use for his defense.

"It angered defensive players 'every day' how little interest McCarthy showed in them," Dunne wrote.

This led to lethargy and low productivity on that side of the ball.

These are all ancient history at this point, but there have been other issues in Dallas indicating some past disciplinary issues are still in play.

The Bears constantly had trouble last year and in the other year and a half under Eberflus with presnap penalties.

Dallas, under McCarthy, has been famous for this type of thing.

The yellow flag is a red flag with McCarthy's Cowboys.

According to NFLpenalties.com, the Cowboys (3.06) were just behind the Bears (3.47) in presnap penalties last season. Dallas as fourth and the Bears second. 

Dallas had problems with Dak Prescott's season-ending injury and losing a QB can lead to presnap issues, but this has been a problem throughout McCarthy's entire time in Dallas. They were eighth in 2023, 12th in 2022 and in 2021 they were No. 1 in the league in presnap penalties. They also were 10th in 2020, McCarthy's first year.

It wasn't just presnap penalties that became an issue. The Cowboys were third in penalties (7.5 per game) this year, third (6.7) in 2023, 10th in 2022 (5.9), No. 1 in the league in 2021 (7.8) and eighth (6.0) on penalties in 2020. They have never been out of the top 10.

Another alarming fact was they benefited from penalties this past season, as opponents were flagged the second most in the league, yet the Cowboys were only able to rank 17th in scoring. It wasn't always the case. They were second in penalties against opponents in 2023 and first in 2021 and in both those seasons they led the NFL in scoring.

Dallas Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin this past week on the Fox Sports talk show "Speak," blamed some of their problems on lack of focus and even cited McCarthy's policy of not having all the team stay at a hotel the night before home games as a reason for this lack of focus.

In fairness to McCarthy, his policy on this has never been written in concrete. He varied it according to the experience level of his team—more experienced teams got to avoid the hotel and younger teams had it.

The other red flag to come out for a candidate is for the coach everyone considers a favorite, Ben Johnson. It might be the first bit of negativity suggested about the Lions offensive coordinator.

A Commanders TV analyst, Lake Lewis Jr., told podcaster Rio Robinson that Johnson wanted Sam Howell to be his quarterback when he was going to interview with Washington for head coach last year, and that he wasn't interested in drafting Jayden Daniels to be QB. And Lewis reported the interview was canceled because the Commanders were planning to draft Daniels.

No one can question Johnson's ability to coordinate an offense and he has done it with Jared Goff, who wasn't regarded among the league's best quarterbacks until he got into Johnson's attack.

But Sam Howell?

Howell is now a backup in Seattle after being traded by the Commanders in a multipick deal. The Seahawks received Howell, a fourth-rounder and sixth-rounder while Washington received a third-rounder and fifth-rounder.

Special note for Bears fans: Howell essentially attracted more in trade compensation than the conditional sixth-rounder Ryan Poles got for Justin Fields.

The Bears would not be bringing Johnson to Chicago to be personnel director or GM if they hired him, so in a way this isn't as important.

Still, he would need to work with Poles closely and his judgment on talent is a factor during the predraft process and free agency.

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