Jim Harbaugh wanted to coach the Bears — they weren’t interested

The Bears could’ve had Jim Harbaugh roaming the sidelines this season, but team president Kevin Warren put the kibosh on the idea.

That’s according to reports from Chicago sports talk host Dan McNeil and former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi.

McNeil, who hosts a podcast on the BetRivers network and was a longtime host at 670 the Score, got the ball rolling with a post on X Thursday morning.

“BREAKING: Jim Harbaugh wanted to talk to the #Bears in January, but Kevin Warren quashed it,” McNeil wrote. “Via a long-time team employee, Harbaugh expressed interest in the HC job. The staffer told Ryan Poles, who told Warren. The president dismissed it summarily.”

Lombardi vouched for the report during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

“Kevin Warren is running that team. Let’s make no mistake about that. You can sit there and say that somebody else is, but he is,” Lombardi said.

“And that story about Jim Harbaugh is completely true. Remember, Warren and Harbaugh had some differences … when Warren was commissioner of the Big Ten and Harbaugh was at Michigan. But there were two teams who Jim Harbaugh would’ve loved to worked for: the Bears — who he played for — and Raiders — who he worked for in his first coaching job — but neither team decided to go after him.”

A Bears spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the reports.

Instead of making a play for Harbaugh, the Bears opted to bring back Matt Eberflus for this season.

At 4-8, the Bears fired Eberflus, the first time the organization has ever terminated a coach mid-season.

As Lombardi mentioned, Harbaugh and Warren butted heads during their time together in the Big Ten.

Harbaugh was critical of the decision that Warren made to cancel the 2020 Big Ten season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our student-athletes and coaches want to compete,” Harbaugh said after Warren had announced that the season would be canceled. “They have committed, trained and prepared their entire lives for this opportunity, and I know how much they’re disappointed at this time. I share in their disappointment today.”

The decision was later reversed and the Big Ten played a partial season.

Harbaugh joined the Chargers and the team is 8-4 during his first year in Los Angeles.