The Chicago Bears went through a detailed and exhaustive search process for their next head coach between late November 2024 and mid-January this year. Everybody knows the end result: Detroit Lions offensive coordinator became the choice. Fans were happy with it, and the media praised it. GM Ryan Poles didn’t take any direct credit for the decision, shifting praise to the search team the organization put together. Everything was made to look like it was a consensus decision.
Truthfully, that isn’t entirely accurate. Adam Jahns of The Athletic picked up some fascinating details on how the hiring process played out. Among the biggest was that Poles knew he wanted Johnson early. However, he made it a point not to tell anybody that. He didn’t want to hijack the process. The search would play out, and everybody would get an opinion on the matter.
In a morning meeting at Halas Hall on Jan. 19, general manager Ryan Poles finally revealed to everyone involved in the Chicago Bears’ coaching search whom he wanted to hire as the team’s next head coach.
Until then, Poles kept his thinking secret. He didn’t want to sway how others felt about the candidates the team interviewed.
“That’s when he gave his opinion and his thought process to everyone,” president/CEO Kevin Warren said. “It was organized — and it all came together.”
This is why the Bears reacted so quickly after Detroit lost their playoff game to Washington. By then, the search team was on the same page. Johnson was the guy. It was time to go get him.
Ryan Poles honored the process and deserves credit for it.
Too many times in recent Bears history a GM has steamrolled his way into making a crucial organizational decision without putting in the necessary work. Ryan Pace notoriously fell in love with Mitch Trubisky without giving proper effort to looking at the other prominent quarterbacks in 2017. Phil Emery unilaterally fired Lovie Smith in 2013 after the Bears went 10-6 because he was convinced the team needed an offensive head coach to maximize Jay Cutler. We saw how those went. Ryan Poles made sure not to let his personal bias interfere with the process. He kept his mind open to a possible change if they came across another coach who blew them away. In the end, it was Johnson who did that. Nobody can say the Bears took shortcuts.
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@Dr. Melhus, being given a list by his bosses doesn’t exclude him from criticism for picking the most unqualified guy of that list. Neither Quinn or Fluss were very exciting names but one clearly had levels of success. Then we find out that Fluss was going to be let go by the Colts so it really makes you wonder just how comically inept the Bears organization was at that time.
@Dr. Melhus. Spot on! I do enjoy reading your comments and your intelligent factual insight. I have to admit I’ve been up and down on Poles over the last 3 years but if you’re a true Bears fan you’ve got to be excited in the direction the team is headed. Poles has made mistakes and has tried his best to correct them. The win/loss record doesn’t reflect that but how much of that can you pin on Poles? My opinion most of that blame rests at the feet of Eberflus. We all witnessed Eberflus piss away games last year. He… Read more »
Arguing with @TGena gets tedious because of his tunnel vision. To counter the points he claims Greenberg ‘reminded’ us of: Poles selected Eberflus over Quinn and Caldwell: Yes, but Poles was given a list by his bosses, and being an actual rookie GM at that point (all of 3 days in the position) was not likely to deviate from those choices. We don’t know what the actual instructions given to him in house were, or the parameters of the choice, and we’ll probably never know. History has shown that to be a poor choice, but one that was rectified over… Read more »
You are so full of it silly you have made your choices plain for all to see since you came onto this site
Keep meowing little pussy
Process …Scmotzes. This was a clearly easy choice. There was a clear cut favorite offensive minded HC available. This wasn’t a difficult decision. It was however complicated by the McCaskey family not willing to fire coaches until they have 1 years left on their contracts. I don’t think the wide net cast was to identify the primary guy. They did that as plan B. As for Poles I generally have not had a positive grade for him. Never a big fan of passing up elite talent for good talent like the Carter/Wright draft. Rebuilding teams should not be drafting 2… Read more »