The Chicago Bears are under no illusions. Those people in charge understand the next 3-4 weeks may well determine the next decade of football in this town. It has been several years since the Bears landed on an actual good head coach. Since Lovie Smith departed, it’s been an array of horrible mixed with mediocre. Matt Eberflus has a case for being the worst of the lot. Now, team president Kevin Warren and GM Ryan Poles must try to learn from that mistake and somehow find the right guy for the first time in over a decade.
Plenty of rumors have bounced back and forth around the team. Some indicate they’re looking for an offensive specialist to help Caleb Williams. Others hear they’d prefer somebody with experience who can fix the culture of losing that has permeated Halas Hall. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN shed some light on the subject during an appearance on the This Is Football podcast. From what he understands, the Bears aren’t going to pigeonhole themselves. They’re planning a thorough and extensive search.
The Chicago Bears are correct in taking this approach.
One can understand eyeing a specific type of coach, but the right person for the job can sometimes pop up in unlikely places. Smith wasn’t the first choice for the Bears in 2004. GM Jim Finks didn’t even want Mike Ditka in 1982. It is always about getting to know every candidate possible and assessing which of them has the traits you’re looking for. A big criticism of Poles was that he only took 48 hours after getting the GM job to make a decision in 2022, opting for Eberflus. He went with his gut rather than taking time to truly evaluate his options. It appears he won’t make that mistake again.
The bigger question is whether the Chicago Bears are willing to take their time. If they plan to meet with 12-14 candidates, they can’t possibly expect to do so in the span of one or two weeks. It is almost impossible to glean any good information from a frantic pace like that. This process must be spread out over most of January and even into February if needed. Will Poles and Warren have that kind of patience? Nobody can say.
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IF the McCaskey family stays out of the decision-making process this time there is a chance they will get it right. Both Keven Warren and Ryan Poles are both capable of leading this search without them.
I just hope that they wait until the Super Bowl is finished. Don’t hire a guy from a team that isn’t winning!
Agree @Dr. Melhus and @Unluckyirishman76 I don’t think there is any way Ben Johnson stays in Detroit this time around. But if they are both gone somehow, I would still lean offense. Joe Brady, Todd Monken, Liam Coen. I wouldn’t touch Vrabel, but I could be convinced that Carroll is the right guy if Johnson is gone.
@Bears57: I think this is going to be a lot like the 1.01 pick in ’24. We all knew Poles would take Caleb, but he did a lot of research to make sure Caleb wasn’t the wrong pick, and that none of the others would blow him away. For the HC search, I suspect the same thing, we all know it should be Johnson, but the Bears will take their time getting there.
Relax PPL…. DUH BEARS gunna sign the CHEAPEST high school Coach who applies…..