With Pete Carroll reportedly having expressed interest in becoming the head coach of the Chicago Bears next season, it is easy to step back and see the biggest attribute that the former Seattle Seahawks coach could bring to the Windy City.
Sure, Carroll has a Super Bowl ring to his credit during his time with the Seattle Seahawks (and could have potentially won back-to-back titles had it not been for a questionable call at the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX). He is also one of four coaches in history to have won a national championship and Super Bowl (along with Jim Harbaugh, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer).
However, there is one thing that the Bears need perhaps more than anything right now as another season spirals out of control, and that is the winning culture that Carroll has proven he can institute after his days in the Pacific Northwest.
Absolutely, there are plenty of areas where the Bears can improve in the offseason (including a porous and injury-riddled offensive line). However, with Caleb Williams showing that he has the talent to be an effective NFL quarterback and skill players around him who could help the Chicago offense become a legitimate and consistent threat, having someone to harness that potential and set the tone in the locker room and on the field becomes a priority for the Bears this offseason.
Listen to what current Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said about Carroll's ability to build culture and the importance of it:
Steve Kerr on what he learned from Pete Carroll on culture building, “If you come in here with genuine, real values and then you make them come alive, that’s when the culture starts to form.”
— Coach AJ Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) March 30, 2024
• The culture is a living conscience for the team.
• Everyone contributes to it. pic.twitter.com/kFneIEKyVM
It can be argued that the Bears haven't had a coach who instilled a culture in the franchise since Mike Ditka and his powerhouse teams of the mid-1980s. The Bears have had talent in the years since Ditka stepped down, but they have not had a true leader who could read the temperature of his team and set the expectations and beliefs based on that.
There are some who will scoff at Carroll's potential return to the sidelines next season as a coach who will 74 on September 15. However, if Carroll could provide a shift in the culture inside Halas Hall, his age should be an afterthought.
After a season that has not lived up to expectations in Chicago, the Bears have a chance to make a franchise-shifting move at head coach and prove that they are going to give Williams and the rest of their young talent on offense a chance to not only put up statistics, but also gain confidence and character while doing it.
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