The Chicago Bears have granted special teams coordinator Dave Toub permission to consider jobs elsewhere in the event he is not hired as the team’s next head coach.

General manager Phil Emery interviewed Toub for the head-coaching position on Monday making him one of 13 known candidates for the position. But since, Toub has been looking at opportunities elsewhere.

Toub remains under contract to the Bears through 2013 and certainly could return in his current position under a new head coach. He could also land elsewhere. Toub interviewed with Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera on Wednesday, first reported by Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. Next, Toub will interview with Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Toub and Rivera worked together previously under ex-Bears coach Lovie Smith and Toub’s relationship with Reid goes back much further. Reid hired Toub into the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001 and they worked together at Missouri and UTEP, dating back all the way to 1987.

The Bears have consistently fielded one of the finest special teams units in the league under Toub, who was hired by Smith in 2004. Emery seems to really like the idea of a special teams coordinator as head coach. He’s interviewed three others besides Toub – Atlanta’s Keith Armstrong, Dallas’ Joe DeCamillis and Minnesota’s Mike Priefer.

Former Bears special teams assistant Chris Tabor, on the staff that was fired in Cleveland, is also believed to be on Rivera’s radar in Carolina.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune