Jim Harbaugh was willing, but the Bears front office muffed chance at building winning culture

Chicago Bears were one of Jim Harbaugh's preferred coaching destinations before he landed with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Jim Harbaugh was willing, but the Bears front office muffed chance at building winning culture

Chicago Bears decided to stick with Matt Eberflus instead of a chance to give the reins to Jim Harbaugh (Image via X)

In the offseason, the Chicago Bears built a team they thought would be good enough to compete with the best in the tough NFC North. Fast forward to Week 14 and they are languishing at the bottom and have just fired Matt Eberflus. Almost a year later from the time they had a chance to do it another way with Jim Harbaugh.

Coming off his CFP National Championship win last year, Jim Harbaugh was meeting with several teams on the possibility of returning to the NFL. Some teams were at the forefront, but the 60-year-old decided to sign with the Los Angeles Chargers.

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Harbaugh played quarterback for the Bears in his first seven years in the league. That connection and the possibility of building a team with his fingerprint all over it was something that interested him. However, the Bears top brass decided to stick with Eberflus at the time and ignored Harbaugh. Michael Lombardi confirmed this while speaking on The Pat McAfee Show.

Kevin Warren is running that Chicago Bears team, and that story about Jim Harbaugh is completely true. There were two teams that Jim Harbaugh would have loved to work for last year. The Bears, who he played for and was the pick for, and then the Las Vegas Raiders, who he worked for in his first coaching job. Neither team decided to go after him. Why, I don’t know.

Michael Lombardi said on The Pat McAfee Show

Lombardi did mention that Kevin Warren‘s time as Big Ten Commissioner prior to taking the job with the Bears meant they had some differences between them. That could suggest why the Bears CEO did not want Harbaugh to coach his team.

The Bears could have been a vastly different team under Jim Harbaugh

Another irony is that Jim Harbaugh sent Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Chicago Bears. Which means, had he been the Bears HC, he would not have even bothered to look at overpriced veteran wideouts.

Jim Harbaugh has transformed the culture at the Los Angeles Chargers
Jim Harbaugh has transformed the culture at the Los Angeles Chargers (Image via X)

Instead, his current philosophy of having a young group would have prevailed. Another factor he would have worked on was to bring in his trademark tough running game. That helps elevate the pressure off the quarterback and he has used that to perfection on Michigan’s run to the championship.

The most important question mark of all would have been at quarterback. Harbaugh already had his former player JJ McCarthy coming into the draft. That could have helped the front office trade down and garner more picks for additional players. That means Caleb Williams would have been a quarterback for another team.

Jim Harbaugh could have changed the culture of the Chicago Bears the way he has done with the Los Angeles Chargers so far. But instead, the franchise is now in the hands of their interim HC as they look to make something out of their disappointing season.

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