Westward ho, Jerry Angelo.
The Bears’ coaching search will lead the general manager to California, where he plans to sit down Monday morning in the Bay Area with San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Jim Mora Jr. before meeting with former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel.
Fassel has been in San Francisco since Wednesday, when he watched his son, Mike, play for Boston College in the San Francisco Bowl. He spent parts of two days interviewing with Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and met Saturday with the Arizona Cardinals about their vacancy.
The Bears will be the third team to interview Fassel, who was said to be impressed with Snyder. “The Washington situation intrigues Jim,” Fassel’s agent, Steve Rosner, told the Associated Press.
The Bears reached out to Mora on Friday night when they called to request moving his interview from Tuesday to Monday, perhaps to get in front of him before Mora’s second interview with the Falcons. Mora, 42, made a strong enough impression with Atlanta to warrant an invitation to return Tuesday, though owner Arthur Blank missed the first meeting and simply may have wanted to see firsthand the candidate who had created such a buzz in the Falcons’ front office.
The Falcons also are thought to be very interested in Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, whom the Bears interviewed Friday.
Mora will enter the room with Angelo armed with the weighty endorsements of Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren and Terry Donahue. All three have spoken in the past week about Mora’s dynamic personality and bright future as an NFL head coach.
Similar praise comes from all corners for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, one of the hottest college coaches on the market because of his NFL experience in Baltimore and Cleveland under Bill Belichick. That link to Belichick is what connects speculation about Ferentz to Angelo and the Bears.
“I’m not even thinking about [the NFL] right now,” Ferentz told the Tampa Tribune after his Hawkeyes drubbed Florida 37-17 in the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day. “What I’m excited about is what we’ve done as a football team and a program. I couldn’t be more excited about looking ahead.”
Angelo, also in San Francisco for the East-West Shrine Game practices, is believed to have plans to talk to Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Nolan next week.
– Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and center Olin Kreutz were named Pro Bowl starters.
