Bear Digest

Bears Claim This Plan for Hiring a New Coach Will Succeed

At Tuesday's press conference, GM Ryan Poles, president Kevin Warren and owner George McCaskey said their "collaborative" effort will produce a winner where other tries failed.

Gene Chamberlain

Ryan Poles addresses the media at Halas Hall on Tuesday.
Ryan Poles addresses the media at Halas Hall on Tuesday. / Gene Chamberlain Photo | Chicago Bears On SI
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GM Ryan Poles, team president Kevin Warren and board chairman George McCaskey want everyone to believe it will be different this time when the Bears hire a coach.

It's been said numerous times before by many, and the Bears still have to prove they can do it properly.

They tried Tuesday to convince fans it can be different, but if it is the candidate will need to adhere to their set of restrictions.

"I'll end up selecting the coach," Poles said. "I'm taking the lead on that. George and Kevin have put me in charge of that. And that will be the relationship between the coach and I."

Poles said they'll use all means at their disposal to find one, and could even explore trading draft capital for one.

“Yeah, we’ll look at all avenues to get the best coach here,” Poles said.

It could include using a search firm but only for background. The number of candidates they'll interview is wide open.

"I haven’t been a limit on it," Poles said. "I think the restriction at some point is how much time you have room. There's a lot of rules that go along with kind of setting your calendar up, so we want to make sure if it’s that it’s not stressing us out to an extent where we’re not doing quality work. It absolutely needs to be quality, but I haven’t put a number on it.”

The obvious decision ahead for the Bears is either an offensive coordinator type, someone like Ben Johnson. Or it could be a so-called "leader of men," a defensive coach, former coach or special teams type.

Poles admitted they do need to keep quarterback Caleb Williams in mind when deciding, but it can't be the only factor involved.

"I think for a young quarterback, obviously, there’s an ideal fit," Poles said. "But at the end of the day, you got to look at all the characteristics of what you’re looking for in a head coach, and then you got to see what’s the best bundle of those to bring in the building.

"Obviously, we’re talking about leadership, accountability, some of those important things that carry over. Regardless of what the situation is. Those have to be there. To ignore those just to go to the other side, I think that’s a bad deal too. Really, it’s the candidate that has the best collection of all those things. Yes, the development of a young quarterback is going to be a huge factor in that."

The restrictions involved mean candidates must accept the current organizational structure. They will not negotiate to let the coach report to the owners or to Warren.

"Our structure is vertical," McCaskey said. "Head coach reports to the general manager, general manager reports to the president, president reports to the chairman."

It's been reported some of the top candidates would prefer their own general manager or a system with a coach reporting directly to ownership, something McCaskey doubts will come up.

"Well, I haven’t ever experienced anyone saying that," McCaskey said. "Usually, they want the job."

Poles hired Matt Eberflus and the 2024 season turned into a repeat of the 2022 season, with a total free fall. He believes it will be different.

Yeah, just more sensitive on the follow-through and the actions that come with, we all talk about a lot of things. And there was some follow-up. I think to say it wasn’t all there, that he didn’t do what he was supposed to do would be false. I think it can be done stronger and more consistently. Again to make sure that some of the little things don’t pop up later. 

Even while they say Poles is making the decision on the coach, there is an underlying emphasis on group effort. Warren will be involved. They also plan to make the candidates talk with other members of management, such as senior vice president Karen Murphy or others.

"I think what it shows is we just want to have a collaborative organization to provide our individuals, our employees here, a lot of them like Karen Murphy, one, our chief operating officer but has been here over 20 years, and they have insight into the organization," Warren said. "And all of these interviews are, they go both ways. It's not only us interviewing the candidates but it's the candidates interviewing us and I want to make sure, I know Ryan wants to make sure that we provide all the opportunities for candidates to ask questions.

"I like the collaborative nature of it to be able to have them involved in the process at the appropriate time. I know early on it will be a smaller group as Ryan addressed."

They remain convinced none of this will be considered out of the ordinary by candidates or detrimental to the team's hiring.

"I am confident in our process," Warren said. "I said it in December and I'll say it again, this will be a coveted job. I mean we have so much going for us.

"We have incredible ownership. We have the best fan base in the world. We found a franchise quarterback. We have salary cap space. We have draft capital. We live in a world-class city. We just have a lot of attributes going for us."

Similar things have been said before.

"Well, Ryan has the benefit of his experience, and he has the benefit of the guidance from Kevin, who has been through this process before," McCaskey said. "So we're hoping for a better result."

Once again.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.