Is Carroll the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?
I was sitting at the dining table, tucking into my turkey, when the text came through.
‘Your friend Carroll is interested in the Bears coaching job,’ it read.
This was, of course, a reference to my praise for Pete Carroll’s play calling in the article following Matt Eberflus’ departure a month ago.
Carroll has now made substantiated comments to indicate he would be interested in coaching the Chicago Bears, which have allegedly been reciprocated by the organisation.
This news felt like divine intervention from the journalistic gods, but also a surprise play call from Carroll himself.
At 73 years of age, the appointment would appear to be a short-term fix should it come to fruition. The NFL is trending heavily towards younger coaching hires, the success of Sean McVay and Mike McDaniel swaying general managers towards a breath of fresh air approach.
Carroll is indelibly linked to his tenure with the Seattle Seahawks, a relationship which lasted 14 seasons between 2010 and 2023.
Prior to this, however, Carroll’s head coaching positions have surprisingly coincided with some key moments in the timeline of the NFL.
1994 – Dan Marino’s Fake Spike
In 1994, Carroll earned his first shot at an NFL head coaching position with the New York Jets.
In a tight contest against the Miami Dolphins, the Jets were leading 24-21 with 30 seconds left to play.
Miami had advanced the ball to a position ten yards from the New York goal line, with a time out still in the bank.
Marino moved back as if to spike the ball, the Jets defense stopped, and Marino lobbed a pass to Mark Ingram for the winning touchdown.
Few fans realise that the coach facing off against the great Don Shula that day was Carroll, cutting his teeth as a head coach.
1998 – Peyton Manning’s first road game
After one season as head coach of the Jets, Carroll worked as defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers until being hired as head coach of the New England Patriots in 1997.
At the start of the 1998 season, the Patriots hosted number one draft pick Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football.
Manning was picked off three times and sacked twice in a 29-6 loss – which was only slightly better than his teams’ 43-8 loss against Carroll’s Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII 16 years later.
2006 – Vince Young’s greatest hour
Carroll was fired by the Patriots in 1999, and hired as head coach by college team USC Trojans the next year.
With future star NFL running back Reggie Bush, USC captured the National Championship in 2005.
One year later, they were expected to defeat the Texas Longhorns in the championship game to retain the title.
What ensued was one of the greatest college football games of all time, with Vince Young scoring an -eight-yard rushing touchdown with time expiring to clinch the victory.
At this point it may be worth testing the theory that former head coaches praised in my articles will be linked to the Bears at some point in the offseason.
I would like to make it known that I have always been a Bill Belichick fan, and if Marv Levy can still do a job at 99 years of age, I would even take four Super Bowl losses at this point.
