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Bears GM Ryan Poles Had Awkward Moment When Asked About Ex-OC Shane Waldron

Andy Nesbitt

Bears GM Ryan Poles struggled to answer a simple question on Monday.
Bears GM Ryan Poles struggled to answer a simple question on Monday. / Screengrab via @dave_bfr
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The Chicago Bears have been one of the biggest laughingstocks in the the NFL this year and that continued when they found a mind-boggling way to lose to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. The following day they fired head coach Matt Eberflus moments after he spoke with the media about that holiday loss.

On Monday GM Ryan Poles met with the media for the first time since the firing and he had a really awkward moment when he was asked a basic question about former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who was fired less than a month ago.

Reporter: "Ryan, where do you think it went wrong with the selection of Shane Waldron?"

Poles seemed to be surprised by the question and remained quiet for what felt like an uncomfortably long time before giving his answer.

"With Shane obviously there was some communication that probably didn’t happen as clean as it needed to be and we just got off to a tough start," Poles said. "It’s always difficult when you have a young quarterback, we built this to have supported around Caleb but when you have that blend of a young rookie quarterback with experienced players to make that all work is a difficult task and I think there was a little bit of struggle just getting that going."

Fans were not impressed with Poles in that moment:

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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