The Chicago Bears have reached out to at least 15 general manager and 11 coaching candidates for interviews. As they go through the process, we’re looking at each of the prospective hires.
Dan Quinn interviewed for the coach opening Saturday, the Bears announced.
<mark class=”hl_orange”>Dan Quinn</mark>
Title: Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator
Age: 51
Experience
Quinn is among the more experienced Bears candidates after spending more than five seasons as the Atlanta Falcons head coach before he was fired in October 2020 after an 0-5 start.
The Falcons went 43-42 and made the playoffs twice in his tenure, including the 2016 team that advanced to Super Bowl LI and suffered a second-half collapse and loss to the New England Patriots in overtime. That team had current San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan as its offensive coordinator and Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur as its quarterbacks coach.
Quinn started his NFL career in 2001 as a defensive assistant with the 49ers. He coached the defensive line for the 49ers (2003-04), Miami Dolphins (2005-06), New York Jets (2007-08) and Seattle Seahawks (2009-10) and was the Seahawks defensive coordinator (2013-14).
You should know
Quinn got his head coaching shot after leading a Seahawks defense that was among the best in the NFL in 2013 and 2014 as the Seahawks made it to back-to-back Super Bowls. But the Falcons defenses didn’t have the same success.
This season, the Cowboys gave up 351 yards per game, ranked 19th, but just 21.1 points per game, ranked seventh.
Chicago connection
Among the losses that sealed Quinn’s fate with the Falcons in 2020 was the Bears’ 30-26 comeback victory, in which Bears coach Matt Nagy benched Mitch Trubisky for Nick Foles. That was the Falcons’ third loss in the five-game losing streak to start the season.
What has been said
When he fired Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff, Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a statement he had “deep love, admiration and respect” for them.
“For many years, they have represented me, our team, organization and Atlanta with class, commitment and all the passion you would want in the leaders of the team,” Blank said. “But as everyone knows, this is a results business and I owe it to our fans to put the best product we can on the field. We have poured every resource possible into winning and will continue to do so, but the results of late do not meet our standard or what I’ve promised our fans.”
Before LaFleur’s Packers played Quinn’s Falcons in 2020, LaFleur said, “I learned so much from DQ just in terms of allowing the guys to come to work and have fun, have a blast. … He was the first guy that I was really around that embraced that style of environment and that has played a big impact on how we go about our business here with the Green Bay Packers.”