LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WGN) — Tuesday was an eventful day at Halas Hall, headlined by Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles taking responsibility for Chicago’s failures on the field, and outlining the Bears’ search for their next head coach.
What began as a promising season propped up by a talented rookie quarterback and a surplus of weapons on the perimeter, devolved into a 5-12 failure that saw Chicago fire head coach Matt Eberflus three weeks after offensive coordinator Shane Waldron amid a franchise record-tying 10-game losing streak.
“Looking back at the season, not happy with the results. It’s been a long season where those Mondays have been really, really difficult because we continue to come up short,” Poles said. “I have to take responsibility for as the leader of the football operation. I also have to make sure that we find solutions to make sure that we don’t make that mistake again, and we continue to improve.”
One of those solutions will be finding the 18th head coach of the Bears, but a layer of ambiguity surrounds Chicago’s search for their next head coach. Poles said he will continue to keep his contract situation private from the outside world, but would discuss his future with any coaching candidates that inquired.
Both team Chairman George McCaskey and President & CEO Kevin Warren also said they are not concerned about the coach/general manager alignment being an issue in finding the right candidate.
“I trust Ryan. I trust the process that he has put together,” Warren said. “I am confident it will yield positive results. We will hire a world-class coach, whether it’s Thomas Brown, or someone who currently doesn’t work in our organization. We will get this right.”
When asked if Poles will need a contract extension to prove to an incoming coach that their futures are tied together, McCaskey said, “I don’t think so.”
“In the interviews I’ve participated in, that’s never been a factor. Nobody’s ever come in and said, ‘I’m not going to come here unless the general manager and I are on the same timeline,’” McCaskey said. “So, I don’t think that’s going to be a factor.”
The Bears have assembled a six-person panel to find their next head coach, with Poles being the final decision-maker on who gets the job. The panel includes Chief Human Resources Officer Liz Geist, Director of Football Administration Matt Feinstein, and Senior Director of Player Personnel Jeff King, in addition to Poles, Warren, and McCaskey. Assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham will also be included occasionally as he pursues other general manager opportunities.
In terms of whether the team will pair an offensive or defensive-minded leader with sophomore-year quarterback Caleb Williams, Poles said all avenues are being considered.
“If you’re a young quarterback, 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. Then you got to see what’s the best bundle of those to bring in the building.”
So far, Chicago has interviewed interim head coach Thomas Brown and requested to interview 13 other candidates — Joe Brady, Pete Carroll, Brian Flores, Aaron Glenn, Ben Johnson, Mike Kafka, Mike McCarthy, Todd Monken, Drew Petzing, David Shaw, Arthur Smith, Anthony Weaver and Mike Vrabel.
Other factors that weigh into Poles’ equation for their next head coach are discipline and accountability. During his press conference, he pointed toward both being an issue that went back to training camp, and persisted throughout the year in the eyes of players on the team.
“One important thing is we look at the wins and losses, but you got to go to the root cause on how we got there,” Poles said. “I do think we need to challenge our guys more. When we talk about accountability, there’s systems of accountability. It’s how we’re going to put tape up of, ‘This is not how we do it,’ and then [put up] examples of, ‘This is how we do it.’
“Sometimes that can be uncomfortable. I call that healthy friction. I definitely think we need more of that and that would help result in closing that gap on some of these games that we came up short.”