Bear Digest

Bears GM Ryan Poles sends ominous message about Chicago's head coaching search

Chicago Bears fans should be very concerned about this comment that GM Ryan Poles made during his end-of-year press conference.

Bryan Perez

Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images
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Chicago Bears fans aren't confident that the team's primary decision-makers will hire the right head coach over the next few weeks. Chairman George McCaskey has served in his role since 2011 and has overseen four horrendously bad head coaching searches in his tenure. From Marc Trestman to John Fox, from Matt Nagy to Matt Eberflus -- the Bears' process has been flawed.

General manager Ryan Poles was sort of in charge of the last Bears coaching search that resulted in Eberflus getting the job. Realistically, Poles was in place for only two days before 'Flus was hired; he didn't really have a say. But that won't be the case this time, and Poles is doing everything he can to make sure he flips every stone not to make another crippling coaching mistake.

At his end-of-year press conference on Tuesday, Poles shared his reasons why the Bears are interviewing so many candidates. The number is north of 15 now, and it screams of disorganization.

Poles, however, doesn't see it that way. Instead, he thinks a list as big as the Bears' will lead to pleasant surprises during the interview process.

That thud you just heard was an army of Bears fans collapsing in fear.

The Chicago Bears don't need to search for a surprising candidate. They don't have to hire someone unexpected. They don't need to sell the fanbase on why Joe Candidate is an undiscovered genius who will win several Super Bowls.

Instead, all the Bears have to do is hire Ben Johnson or Mike Vrabel. Keep it simple; do the right thing. Hire one of the two most coveted candidates in this year's coaching cycle. No Bears fan will be angry if one of them is hired and they fail. A no-brainer can't later be criticized as a dumb decision. The Chicago Bears have an opportunity to hire an obvious no-brainer to be the next head coach, yet they're already figuring out a way to screw it up.

It feels like Poles is working scared. As if he has to do all these interviews just to sleep at night. But someone, soon, has to offer him some simple words of advice: Don't overthink this. The solution is obvious, there are no tricks here. Hire Ben Johnson or Mike Vrabel and move on to the Bears' 2025 free agency plan.

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Bryan Perez
BRYAN PEREZ

Bryan Perez founded and operated Bears Talk, a Chicago sports blog. Prior to that, he covered the Bears for USA Today’s Bears Wire and NBC Sports Chicago. In addition to his Chicago Bears coverage, Perez is a respected member of NFL Draft media and was a past winner of The Huddle's Mock Draft competition. Bryan's past life includes time as a Northeast scout for the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks.

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