Notre Dame fans go into meltdown over Marcus Freeman report ahead of title game against Ohio State

Even as the Fighting Irish compete for their first national championship since Ronald Regan was president, there is a growing sense of anxiety among Notre Dame fans heading into next week’s title game against Ohio State.

According to the NFL Network, the NFL’s Chicago Bears plan to interview Irish head coach Marcus Freeman for their vacancy. And that news has resulted in both panic and denial among the Notre Dame faithful.

“No,” one Irish fan wrote on X. “Not allowed.”

“Freeman is the best thing to happen to this team in a long time,” another added. “I really hope he doesn’t chase the $ into the NFL. I hope they don’t make him an offer he can’t refuse.’

One fan kept it simple: “Tell the bears to kick rocks.”

Many others simply refused to believe Freeman would be interested in the position, especially after he signed an extension in October that would keep him in South Bend for six more seasons.

“I would assume he has a big buyout since this is the first year of his new contract,” one fan wrote on X.

Several other Notre Dame fans suggested the Bears hire LSU coach Brian Kelly, who famously defected from South Bend to Baton Rouge in November 2021, allowing Freeman to be promoted to interim coach.

“They should go after Brian Kelly,” one person wrote. “He has a habit of leaving the team at a moment’s notice.”

Freeman obviously has more pressing matters at the moment. The head coach will guide the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish against eighth-seeded Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

He has a 33-9 coaching record at Notre Dame and is one win away from leading the program to its first national championship since the 1988 season.

The 39-year-old Freeman is also no stranger to the Bears. He was selected by Chicago in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of Ohio State.

Another former Bears player, Ron Rivera – who has served as head coach for the Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders – was interviewed for the job in Chicago on Sunday.

Rivera, who recently celebrated his 63rd birthday, has a 102-103-2 record as an NFL head coach and coached nine years in Carolina and another four in Washington. His tenure in Carolina was by far his most successful, including four playoff seasons and an NFC championship in 2015.

Rivera, a nine-year pro, was selected in the second round (44th overall) by the Bears in the 1984 NFL Draft and served as a reserve linebacker on the famed 1985 Super Bowl champions.

The Bears are looking for a head coach to replace Matt Eberflus, who was fired from the team at 4-8 after Week 13. Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown finished the season with a 1-4 mark as Chicago finished in last place in the tough NFC North.

The Bears will interview Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores this week, as well as offensive coordinators Kliff Kingsbury (Washington Commanders), Todd Monken (Baltimore Ravens) and Arthur Smith (Pittsburgh Steelers).

They have already interviewed offensive coordinators Ben Johnson (Detroit Lions), Drew Petzing (Arizona Cardinals) and Mike Kafka (New York Giants), defensive coordinators Aaron Glenn (Lions) and Anthony Weaver (Miami Dolphins) and former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete. Caroll.

Former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was also interviewed, but he is out of the running after being named coach of the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Two upset losses stood out from the rest of college football this season. Notre Dame suffered one. Ohio State the other.

In recent years, those losses might have been enough to take both teams out of the hunt for a national title. This year, with the debut of the twelve-team playoffs, these two teams will be playing for it.

The Buckeyes defeated Texas 28-14 on Friday night and set up a meeting against the Fighting Irish on January 20. Ohio State hasn’t lost since its 13-10 loss to Michigan in November. Notre Dame hasn’t lost since its 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois in September.

Ohio State is seeking its sixth AP national title, ninth overall, and first since the College Football Playoff debuted a four-team playoff in 2014. Notre Dame is going for its twelfth championship, but the first since 1988.

This Big Ten versus independent matchup means this is the second year in a row that the Southeastern Conference has been excluded from the finals after winning the championship in six of the previous eight years.

Ohio State opens as a 9 1/2-point favorite, according to BetMGM. Ohio State won meets in 2022 and 2023 and leads the series 6-2.

This season’s losses helped set the tone for both teams as they began the kind of comeback that might not have been possible in recent years.

“The time you are most tested is when you are at your lowest point,” said Freeman, who becomes the first Black coach to capture the national title with a victory. “We’re losing to Northern Illinois and you have a decision: ‘Do I want to be unselfish?’ Or am I going to put individual glory before myself?”

Ohio State coach Ryan Day said the Michigan game “is what life is all about.”

“You have to go through adversity along the way, and how you deal with adversity is how you define life, and these guys are getting life lessons right now,” Day said.

The matchup pits Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard against Ohio State’s Will Howard, all of whom are in their first year at their schools after entering the transfer portal following last season.

Although there was NO money involved, both players said they moved schools to try to win a title.

“The truth is, I came here to win a national championship, and to go to the best team that would give me the best opportunity to do that,” said Riley, who transferred from Duke to Notre Dame.

“I had a list of things I was looking for, in terms of needing to go somewhere where there was a lot of talent around me and somewhere I could compete for a national championship,” Howard told ESPN last year, not long after he moved from Kansas State.