When Can They Start Interviewing Candidates?

There is only one question on my mind after the Chicago Bears’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football.

When can this team start interviewing head coach candidates?

And I doubt I am alone in thinking about this today.

Even with a win against the Seahawks, this would have been top of mind this morning.

The Bears fired Matt Eberflus on the day after Thanksgiving. And even though Thomas Brown has held the interim head coach title since, his time as the team’s head coach will likely hit its end next week against the Green Bay Packers. Once the doors close on Week 18, the regular season will come to an end for Chicago’s football team. And with that, the search for a new, full-time head coach will begin in earnest.

A potential timeline for finding the next Chicago Bears head coach

Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s Vice President of Communications, shared this handy guide laying out a full outline of the rules NFL teams must follow for the league’s head coach interview process and rules. The Tribune’s Brad Biggs also rounds up some notable dates in his latest. I highly recommend checking out both if you want a fuller understanding of what the Bears will go through this offseason.

This is what you need to know about what is next for the Chicago Bears as they embark on a journey to unearth a new head coach:

• The Bears can start talking shop with coaches who are not currently employed by NFL teams. In other words, if they wanted to discuss the opening with Pete Carroll in the wake of a report that the Super Bowl-winning head coach is interested in working with Caleb Williams, they could do so without it being a problem in league offices. Ron Rivera? Mike Singletary? Jon Gruden? Those coaching candidates, whose names will surely pop up in think-pieces, during bar-room conversations, and in group chats, can interview with the Bears right now. The same goes for college coaches.

• As for head coach candidates currently on NFL teams, the Bears can begin requesting interviews on Jan. 6 and interviewing those candidates three days after the regular season ends. Virtual interviews with these candidates have to happen before the end of the NFL’s divisional round games (January 19).

• If the Bears want to interview a candidate whose team has a bye in the first round, virtual interviews can begin three days after Week 18 reaches its conclusion and have to happen before the end of the wild-card round of games (January 16). So we are looking at either Jan. 7 or Jan. 8 depending on when that team finishes its games.

CHICAGO BEARS HEAD COACH CANDIDATES

• Virtual interviews with head coach candidates whose current employer is playing on wild-card weekend can begin three days after the team’s wild-card game and must happen before the end of the divisional round.

• TIME LIMITS: Virtual and in-person interviews cannot be longer than three hours.

• After the divisional round ends, teams can begin in-person interviews with candidates on teams whose seasons ended. But coach candidates whose teams make it to the NFC and AFC Championship games cannot interview until *AFTER* their team’s season ends.

• January 20 is a notable date because that is when teams can have in-person or virtual interviews with coaching candidates whose teams have been eliminated from the postseason.

BN BEARS HEAD COACH CANDIDATE PROFILES: Ben Johnson | Joe Brady | Mike Vrabel

• During the bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl (Jan. 27-Feb. 2), coach candidates who are employed by teams in the Super Bowl can be had for second in-person or virtual interviews. Coaching candidates whose teams are in the Super Bowl cannot have a first interview during this period.

• And, finally: Teams cannot contact head coach candidates who are coaching in the Super Bowl during Super Bowl week. The no-contact period this year runs until Feb. 10 — which is the day after the Super Bowl. At that point, interviews can resume.