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Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman has put ‘zero thought’ into NFL amid Bears interest

4 weeks agoScott Bair

The Bears have reported interest in interviewing Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman as part of their coaching search.

The reasons are obvious. The Irish head coach has brought the storied program all the way back, leading his squad into Monday’s College Football Playoff national title game against Ohio State.

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He’s know as a fantastic leader and smart defensive mind despite being just 39 years old. He has a 33-9 record at Notre Dame, with the school a win away from the natty. Freeman’s working not too far from the Chicago market. He was also a Bears fifth-round draft pick back in 2009 – though he never played a regular-season game for them – and therefore has a brief history with the organization.

The Bears are pulling all levers trying to find the right head coach, including a massive interview list and a request to speak with Mike Tomlin ultimately denied by the Steelers. It’s therefore natural that they should be interested in a charismatic young coach with a bright future.

Whether that’s reciprocated is another matter. Freeman was asked about the Bears on Saturday at the College Football Playoff media day in Atlanta and said he hadn’t given the matter any thought.

“To hear that the Bears have interest, it’s humbling,” Freeman told reporters during his media session. “It’s the NFL. But it’s also a reminder that with team success comes individual success. And so, I have put zero thought into coaching in the NFL. All my attention has been on getting this team prepared for the opportunity we have in front of us.”

Freeman didn’t shut down the prospect of considering the Bears or the NFL in the future, when his schedule frees up following Monday’s game. He didn’t profess headline-stealing interest either, a smart move heading into a massive game for all the marbles.

All that said, a quick reminder that Notre Dame just added four years to Freeman’s contract last month at a super lucrative rate, per ESPN’s Heather Dinich, which binds him to the Irish for six more seasons.

While Freeman seems comfortable at Notre Dame during this recent run of success, we might have to wait until next week to see if he plans to stay put or at least entertain an overture from the NFL, which might require serious amounts of cash to leave a great spot for a currently unstable Bears franchise.

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