Rumors are swirling about who might be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears, and an unlikely but intriguing name has emerged – just in time for his former team to come to the Windy City.

As the Seattle Seahawks travel to Soldier Field for Thursday Night Football, former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, 73, could be interested in the job, according to a report from Adam Schefter at ESPN.

The Super Bowl-winning coach led the Seahawks for 14 seasons before his run ended last year.

The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus on November 29, one day after a 23-20 loss to the Lions, with Thomas Brown – the team’s former offensive coordinator and offensive passing game coordinator – serving as the Bears’ interim coach.

Thursday night’s game is the Bears’ final home game of the season. And while the playoffs are out of the question for the Bears, they will at least try to break their nine-game losing streak against Geno Smith and the Seahawks.

“I think it would just be good for morale,” Bears tight end Cole Kmet said. “Obviously it doesn’t mean much for playoffs or anything like that. There really won’t be any clues as to what will happen next year. But just good for morale. I think it would just be an uplifting thing for the locker room at this point.”

Meanwhile, Seattle needs a win to prevent its flickering playoff hopes from being extinguished.

Seattle (8-7) is coming off two straight losses and is one game ahead of the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams (9-6) with two games remaining. The Seahawks were in control of their postseason fate before Minnesota beat them 27-24 last week.

“Fate is out of our hands at the moment. “It hurts,” said coach Mike Macdonald. “But we still have a lot to do. We’ll just keep pounding until this thing breaks. I think it’s right there. We want to be ready if that happens. Hopefully we get a chance to get involved and do some damage.”

Losses are increasing

The Bears (4-11) simply need a win. It’s been losses for them since they beat Jacksonville in Week 6 in London.

First, Chicago fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. And then their head coach, for the first time during a season, when the Bears let Matt Eberflus go the day after a Thanksgiving loss in Detroit. They are 0-3 with interim coach Thomas Brown.

If the Bears lose this game, they will suffer a double-digit loss for the second time in three seasons under general manager Ryan Poles. They lost their last 10 games two years ago, part of a 14-game losing streak that stretched into 2023. Chicago has never lost more than 10 consecutive games in a single season.

Running problems

The running game continues to be a sore spot for Seattle.

The Seahawks average 91.9 yards rushing. Only the New York Jets (88.7) and Las Vegas Raiders (77.5) are worse.

Against Minnesota, the Seahawks threw the ball on 45 of their 60 offensive plays. Their 15 runs produced only 59 yards.

Running back Kenneth Walker III left last week’s game with an ankle injury after sitting out the previous two games with a calf problem. He also missed two weeks in September with an oblique problem.

The Seahawks also faced a number of issues on offense, including injuries and the sudden retirement of starting center Connor Williams midway through the season.

Things seemed to improve in Week 14 when Zach Charbonnet rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns in a win against Arizona. But the problems surfaced again in losses to Green Bay and Minnesota.

Record watch

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has a chance to set the Bears’ single-season passing record provided he plays the final two games.

The No. 1 overall draft pick ranks sixth on the Bears’ list with 3,271 yards. Erik Kramer holds the franchise record of 3,838 in 1995.

A more pressing concern is that Williams finishes the season on a stronger note. To that end, he shook off several shaky outings last week by throwing for 334 yards and two touchdowns.

Williams’ 326 consecutive attempts without an interception is an NFL rookie record and the most ever by a Bears player. But he was also sacked a league-leading and club-record 60 times.

Lesson learned?

Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen was benched for the first series last week after violating an unspecified team rule.

“There are some team rules throughout the week and I just felt like it was best for the team and for him not to start the game,” Macdonald said. “He was great, he understood that in that moment he took responsibility towards his teammates.”

Woolen, a Pro Bowl pick as a rookie in 2022, is having an uneven season.

Go deeper

The Bears could have their hands full keeping Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in check.

Aside from Smith-Njigba becoming the 10th Seahawks player with 1,000 yards in a season last week, Chicago has struggled to defend the pass. That wasn’t the case at the start of the season.

The Bears had a top-10 pass defense as recently as November 17th. Now she is in 23rd place. The Bears have given up 865 passing yards and 102 points in the three games since Eberflus was fired.