If there is going to be a next Bears head coach, and there usually is, Mike Mularkey fits the profile better than most.
The offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers is among the long list of NFL coaching candidates unleashed last week with the firing of Atlanta’s Dan Reeves.
Reeves immediately joined the list himself, along with other out-of-work former head coaches Tom Coughlin and Dennis Green.
Coughlin did an interview with the Associated Press and revealed he no longer would require so much control over personnel. Coughlin interviewed last season in Cincinnati. He has been mentioned for jobs not yet open with the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills.
“I hear people say this place or that place is my kind of place,” Coughlin said. “Honestly, my kind of place is anywhere you can win.”
As Jacksonville’s first and only coach from 1995-2002, Coughlin endured the same end-of-season speculation other employed coaches, including the Bears’ Dick Jauron, are enduring now. Jauron was Coughlin’s defensive coordinator.
“I didn’t like hearing that others were being suggested for my job,” Coughlin said. “But these things happen. Jobs open up. I’m a football coach. I had an opportunity, and I’d like another one.”
Mularkey also interviewed in Cincinnati and was the first runner-up to Marvin Lewis. There are reports that Mularkey so impressed the Bengals that he actually turned down the job before it was offered to Lewis.
Here is why Mularkey would fit in Chicago:
– His expertise is offense. He succeeded with Kordell Stewart, and the Bears questioned him about Stewart as a free agent. He also resurrected the career of Tommy Maddox. He learned football as a player at the University of Florida, same as Rex Grossman, a player Mularkey liked in the draft. Mularkey likes Stewart and might be able to talk him into staying as the ideal backup, experienced and athletic.
– Although the Steelers’ offense has slumped this season, it led the league in rushing in Mularkey’s first year as coordinator and also produced two 1,000-yard receivers in his first two years, 2001 and 2002.
– Mularkey worked as an assistant coach under Sam Wyche in Tampa Bay in 1994-95 when Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was the Bucs’ personnel director.
– The Bears always hire NFL assistant coaches. One reason is they work for less money than big-name college coaches, such as LSU’s Nick Saban or Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, or recycled NFL head coaches. Besides, the reputations of big-name college coaches haven’t been enhanced lately with the NFL struggles of Steve Spurrier and Butch Davis.
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– Mularkey played for the Minnesota Vikings for six years, from 1983-88, so he’s familiar with the traditions of the NFC North.
– He played tight end. His name is Mike.
Seeing Red: Grossman will make his debut against a coach with other things on his mind.
Vikings owner Red McCombs wasn’t pleased about defensive coordinator George O’Leary taking the Central Florida job last week with three games left on Minnesota’s schedule.
“I darn sure wish it hadn’t happened until the season was over,” McCombs said. “He’s under contract with us and he’s obligated to us. Right now, everyone’s saying the right things. We’ll just see how it works out. The bottom line is, we don’t know.”
McCombs remembers when former offensive coordinator Brian Billick was named Baltimore Ravens head coach in 1999 three days after the Vikings lost a divisional playoff game.
“It was obvious with Billick going to Baltimore that he had to have spent a lot of time concentrating on his new assignment,” McCombs said. “I’m not saying that affected our game one way or another. I’m just saying that if somebody offered me another job, I couldn’t concentrate completely on selling cars.”
McCombs elaborated: “If you’re married to a girl and have another one stashed, I think you’d be thinking a lot about that other one. . . . Not that I’ve ever done that.”
O’Leary agreed he should finish the job in Minneapolis and not shuttle back and forth to Orlando. He is handling all UCF duties after hours.
“There are 24 hours in the day,” O’Leary said. “I guess I’ll be using most of them.”
Tice not nice: Offensive linemen complain they are recognized only when their penalties are announced. For Vikings coach Mike Tice, that’s not enough. Against Seattle last week, Tice yanked tight ends Hunter Goodwin and Sean Berton and guard Chris Liwienski after false starts.
Asked what he told the three players after yanking them, Tice said, “`Now that I’ve embarrassed you, you can go back in.'”
Liwienski said it was fair because Tice had warned them of the consequences.
New plan: After his Tennessee Titans fumbled four times last week, coach Jeff Fisher said: “The goal this week is to hand the ball back to the official. The brown thing, hand the brown thing back to the official. Play. Period. That’s it.”
Christmas books: Four books for Bears and NFL fans:
“Tales from the Chicago Bears Sidelines,” by John Mullin (Sports Publishing), foreword by Dan Hampton; “It’s Been a Pleasure–The Jim Finks Story,” (online at NFLALA.org); “Monster of the Midway–The Life and Legend of Bronko Nagurski,” by Jim Dent (Thomas Dunne), foreword by Hampton; “The Gridiron’s Greatest Linebackers,” by Jonathan Rand (Sports Publishing), foreword by Mike Singletary.
Name that team: They have scored one offensive touchdown a game for the last three games. They have had eight games in which they have scored one or no offensive touchdowns. Their running game ranks last in the NFL. They haven’t had a 100-yard rusher. They haven’t had a 100-yard receiver. They haven’t had a 300-yard individual passing game.
Their leading touchdown maker played only five games and is on injured reserve, rookie Charles Rogers. The team is the Lions, who beat the Bears and Packers.
Iowa hotbed: Parkersburg, Iowa, is a town of 1,804. That’s 1,800 regular people and four NFL players–Kansas City center and ex-Bear Casey Wiegmann, Detroit defensive end Jared DeVries, Jacksonville guard Brad Meester and Green Bay defensive end Aaron Kampmann.
Having a bad day: Cleveland coach Davis has been hearing for two years about how he passed up his former running back at Miami, Clinton Portis, for William Green. Now he has to stop him when the Browns play Denver.
“When we were trying to build this football team, there were a lot of holes,” Davis said. “We looked around in our division and the teams that we were playing against. Pittsburgh had Jerome Bettis, Baltimore had Jamal Lewis, Tennessee had Eddie George, Cincinnati had Corey Dillon and Jacksonville had Fred Taylor. The division was predominantly played in really rainy, muddy, sloppy weather. You were looking for somebody where size was something . . . that might be more durable over the long run of a running back’s career.”
Portis rushed for 218 yards and five touchdowns against the Chiefs last week, bringing his total in his last three games against the Chiefs to 489 yards and nine touchdowns.
“We’re going to put him in the Hall of Fame,” Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil said. “His bust should have a big Kansas City head dress on it. I’m serious.”