For the Bears, it ranks as one of the great might-have-been’s, behind perhaps only the late Jim Finks’ near-miss effort at hiring Bill Walsh to coach the Bears.
Bruce Arians was on the Bears’ list of semifinalists for the coaching vacancy left by Lovie Smith’s firing in 2013. Arians was then on the list of three finalists, losing out ultimately to Marc Trestman despite the strong recommendation of then-defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli (whom the Bears then lost because of that incident).
[MORE BEARS: Deadly turnover far from the whole Jay Cutler story in Bears loss]
All old news at this point, but Arians went instead to coach the Arizona Cardinals, coach them to 10-6 and 11-5 seasons and the playoffs last year.