ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the news, which led Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk to make the accusation that the ESPN NFL Insider was doing the bidding of Carroll's agent by loudly broadcasting the scoop on Christmas Day.

“Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Carroll wants back in,” Florio wrote. “Which means, frankly, that Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world, in the hopes of generating public opinion. Then, Carroll’s agent will owe Schefter big time.

ESPN's Adam Schefter defends his report on Pete Carroll's interest in the Chicago Bears head coach position against criticism from Mike Florio, igniting a media controversy.

In case you missed it, yesterday Adam Schefter at ESPN shared a report that he couldn't possibly have waited until the 26th to break: namely that former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has expressed interest in the Chicago Bears' head coach job,

There’s always discussion of anonymous sources and their potential agendas, but that seems to have particularly intensified in the NFL over the past few weeks. That’s included Aaron Rodgers blasting Jay Glazer and Adam Schefter and Pat McAfee publicly wishing for an end to anonymously-sourced reports in the NFL.

The long-running feud between prominent NFL insiders Adam Schefter and Mike Florio carried over to Christmas Day. On Wednesday, Adam Schefter reported that former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has interest in returning to the NFL coaching ranks, and that the Chicago Bears are on his radar.