Bear Digest

Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren to Explain Firing and the Future

A press conference with Bears team president Kevin Warren and GM Ryan Poles is slated for 11:45 a.m. Monday and how they plan to approach a coach hiring will be among the topics.

Gene Chamberlain

Bears general manager Ryan Poles on the field a game with Cincinnati in preseason. Poles and team president Kevin Warren today explain the firing of Matt Eberflus and the team's new direction.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles on the field a game with Cincinnati in preseason. Poles and team president Kevin Warren today explain the firing of Matt Eberflus and the team's new direction. / David Banks-Imagn Images
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After the storm, the calm?

The tumultuous end to the Matt Eberflus coaching era came and the Bears are planning to usher in interim head coach Thomas Brown's five weeks of football by explaining it all.

The Bears have scheduled a press conference with general manager Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren for Monday prior to the regular coach's press conference, this one with Brown. Warren and Poles will hold theirs at Halas Hall at 11:45 a.m. and Brown's will be at 12:15 p.m.

Perhaps the most important issue to be discussed is how they'll go about replacing Eberflus long term, and who is doing it.

Among topics sure to come up are the postgame locker room scene prior to reporters entering, in which several reports say there were angry players and a confrontation between cornerback Jaylon Johnson and Eberflus.

Also, the handling of the firing on Friday, when Eberflus was allowed to conduct his day-after media teleconference under the assumption he was coaching the game this Sunday against San Francisco, but then was fired about two hours later.

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The immediate operation of the team will also be among the topics.
Brown was calling plays from above in the press box for three weeks as the new offensive coordinator after Shane Waldron's firing, but will he automatically be on the sidelines now as the head coach, and will the play-calling situation remain the same? Eberflus was the defensive signal caller. Does this automatically mean defensive coordinator Eric Washington calls those signals.

Considering Brown's lack of experience, why was he chosen to head the team as his time in the league is very limited compared to Washington and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.

Probably the most important aspect of it all is why Poles and Warren let the season get to the edge of the drain before acting.

The Bears are on a six-game losing streak. Eberflus had a 14-game losing streak in 2022-23, and after the season it was apparent many players felt the communication with the staff was a big problem. Yet, last year Eberflus was retained by Poles, Warren and board chairman George McCaskey for this season following a 7-10 finish in his second season. After the team started 4-2 this year, the collapse began and continued with one late-game disaster after another.

The Bears have not been eliminated from the playoffs but it's only a mathematics issue at this point. They're four games behind the last playoff team with five games left, and the last playoff spot is owned by the Washington Commanders.

The Commanders also own a tiebreaker edge on the Bears courtesy of the defeat that started the entire downward spiral on the Hail Mary pass.

On AM-670 The Score Monday, wide receiver DJ Moore made it apparent players expected something would happen with the head coaching job.

"As the season was going, you just kind of figured that was going to happen," Moore told Mike Mulligan and David Haugh. "Thursday, at the end of the game was the last straw, I feel like.

"They did it. Now we got (Thomas Brown) as the interim head coach, and we're going to go out there and play for him."

If the players expected it was coming, why did it take six weeks and ruining the season before the GM, team president and board chairman acted?

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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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.