Ryan Poles to remain Bears GM, will lead search for next head coach

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Ryan Poles will remain the Chicago Bears' general manager and serve as the "point person" in the search for a head coach to replace the fired Matt Eberflus, team president Kevin Warren said on Monday.

Warren said Poles would have the "final say" if the two have differing opinions on who should get the job.

"I’m confident that we will work through it because the good thing about it is so long as we keep the centre of our decisions what’s in the best interest of the Chicago Bears, our players, as we go forward, it will become clear as far as who is the person to lead this franchise from a football standpoint, from a coaching standpoint."

The Bears can sell potential candidates on the chance to work with No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams and coach in a potential new stadium, with the team trying to get one built in the city. It also owns a tract of land in suburban Arlington Heights that could be a site.

Chicago (4-8) had never fired a coach during a season. But a six-game losing streak marked by questionable coaching decisions spurred the founding NFL franchise to change course. The Bears let Eberflus go Friday and replaced him on an interim basis with offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.

"When you look at the end of the game situations, just some of the detailing to finish in those moments," Poles said. "We all know a lot of these games come down to those critical spots that we weren’t able to get over the hump."

Warren and Poles spoke during a news conference that lasted just under 21 minutes, including about an eight-minute opening statement from Warren.

The tipping point with Eberflus came Thursday, with an excruciating 23-20 loss at Detroit. The Bears let the clock run down rather than call a timeout following a sack, resulting in incomplete pass from the Lions 41 as time expired when they could have run more than one play.

The Bears decided to make the change the next day — but not before Eberflus conducted his usual day-after-the-game availability with reporters via Zoom. He was informed a few hours later.

Warren said the Bears had not made the decision by the time Eberflus held his news conference.

"In retrospect, could we have done it better?" he said. "Absolutely, and I’ll be the first one to raise my hand, yes. But during his press conference and even a couple hours later, we had not reached a decision."

The Bears probably had a case to fire Eberflus sooner, whether it was prior to this season or in the past few weeks. They opted to bring him back after winning five of seven late last season and finishing with a 7-10 record after going a league-worst 3-14 in 2022.

The Bears appeared to be in decent shape with three straight wins and a 4-2 record at their bye. But they've been in a freefall ever since.

Along the way, they fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and promoted Brown from passing game coordinator. Players were not shy in recent weeks about expressing how they felt about some of the coaching decisions, and the frustration following the game at Detroit was hard to miss.

"We were all frustrated," Poles said.

As for why the Bears didn't make a change sooner?

"I want to make sure that we see a process through and not make a split decision," Poles said.

Brown has five games to show that he is the right person to lead the Bears, starting with a trip to San Francisco. If he does not get the job, Williams will be on his third NFL head coach and third play-caller by the time his second season begins.

Poles didn't rule out the Bears using a search committee or consultant, something they have done in the past. But this is different.

The Bears were already interviewing coaching candidates to replace the fired Matt Nagy by the time they hired Poles out of Kansas City's front office in late January 2022 after letting Ryan Pace go. Warren, the former Big Ten commissioner, was hired a year later.

Brown has been promoted twice in the past three weeks. He said he will continue to call plays, though wide receivers coach Chris Beatty is now offensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator Eric Washington assumes play-calling duties with Eberflus gone.

Brown said his most immediate task is to "unify" the team and make sure there are "no more divisions."

"It’s easy for doubt to seep in," he said. "There’s tons of negativity outside of these walls, which is why I tell them all the time I don’t even see or hear anything that happens on purpose."