When the Cardinals visit the Bears this Sunday for Week 2 action, the Chicago brass may be wondering what could have been.
Bruce Arians took a stroll down memory lane ahead of the contest and revealed that he was surprised the Bears didn't hire him back in 2013 when they were the first team to interview him, looking to fill the vacancy left after the dismissal of Lovie Smith.
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"Yeah, I was [surprised]," Arians said on a conference call, according to ESPN. "I thought when I left, I said, 'I don't think anything could've been any better throughout the whole day.' And I didn't look back thinking I did anything wrong in any way. It was just their decision."
Chicago opted to hire Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman instead of Arians, but the decision didn't work out in its favor. The Bears finished 8-8 under Trestman in 2013 and followed it up with a disastrous campaign last year, closing out the coach's reign with the team with a nightmarish 5-11 mark.
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Trestman was fired following the 2014 season, which happened to be a campaign that saw Arians pick up his second Coach of the Year Award after leading the Cardinals to an 11-5 season and their first playoff berth since 2009. Arizona would lose to the Panthers in the Wild Card Game, while Chicago would begin a coaching search following the dismissal of Trestman in December.
John Fox will lead the Bears (0-1) against the Cardinals (1-0) in Sunday's game at Soldier Field.
Arians said he was looking forward to working with quarterback Jay Cutler after meeting him before getting the news that he didn't land the job. The coach said he was enamored with Cutler's passion and that he "obviously cares about winning." Cutler has played for five different offensive coordinators and three coaches since 2009.
Arians, however, carries no regrets with him into Sunday's game where he looks to improve to 22-11 as the head coach of the Cardinals.
"The Bears were the first ones to put paperwork in for me, so that was the first interview I gave," Arians said. "I felt very comfortable; I thought it was a great organization. ...It was a day I felt went very well and they made a decision and I went on with it."
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