Chicago Bears: Expect More Movement In Team’s Searches

The Chicago Bears have been taking their time in their searches for a new general manager and head coach. Signs indicate that they’ll pick up the pace starting this week.

Well, it’s been two weeks since the Chicago Bears fired both general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy after another disappointing season. Their fans hope that new blood in the front office and on the coaching staff will finally end the decade or so of losing football.

So far, the Bears have been taking a slow approach to the searches. They have interviewed everyone under the sun to find the right people. They’ve either had or scheduled 11 people for the head coach position and 15 for the general manager. Of them, however, only one has a second interview scheduled for general manager and one for the head coach. Those two people are Ryan Poles, the Kansas City Chiefs Chief Executive Director of Player Personnel, and Matt Eberflus, the current defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts.

It appears that the Bears are ready to speed things up. As mentioned, there are two candidates scheduled for a second interview. After the Division Round of the NFL playoffs, every candidate the Bears are interested in is now available for hire. The Bears can now conduct face-to-face interviews with them. oom interviews but there is nothing like having a potential hire in the room with you.

Bears’ plan is as clear as mud

Chairman of the Board George McCaskey indicated that he wanted to hire a general manager before hiring the head coach. Despite that, he’s conducting both searches simultaneously. He said that the new general manager would oversee the entire football operations. Additionally, the new hire reports to McCaskey and not CEO Ted Phillips.

McCaskey went on to say that giving the new general manager all that authority but not giving him the authority to conduct his own search would be a contradiction. However, their second round of head coach interviews starts before finishing the first round of general manager interviews.

Saying one thing and doing another is par for the course when it comes to the McCaskeys.

Despite having Poles and Eberflus return for second interviews there are other names that reportedly are high on the search committee’s list. Buffalo Bills’ offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier are two names that reportedly did well. Also, the committee really likes Morocco Brown (Indianapolis Colts’ Director of College Scouting) and Omar Khan (Pittsburgh Steelers’ Vice President of Football and Business Administration). They’ll interview this week so we’ll see if they make a big impression.

It’s interesting to note that Frazier and Brown have links to the Chicago Bears already. Frazier played with the famed 1985 Super Bowl champions and Brown worked in the Bears’ front office from 2001-2007. McCaskey wants to feel that the new hires love the Bears through and through. He also wants to feel comfortable with them and already knowing the pair would fill that need.

Is Polian pushing for his former team’s personnel?

Having Bill Polian lead the committee’s search might influence the outcome. Polian worked for the Colts and some reports indicate that he’s pushing for a Brown/Eberflus combination.