Ryan Poles to serve as point-person for next head coaching hire, has 'final say'

“Ryan Poles is the general manager of the Chicago Bears and he will remain the general manager of the Chicago Bears.”

Kevin Warren’s opening remarks from the PNC Center at Halas Hall 72 hours after firing head coach Matt Eberflus brought a strong endorsement for the third-year general manager.

Warren cited Poles’ “leadership capabilities” before declaring that the GM would “serve as the point person on the search for a permanent head football coach.”

But the president and CEO of the franchise made clear what the Bears will be looking for in their next head coach. Warren highlighted qualities such as having “extremely high standards” and “attention to detail” while the ideal candidate would also be “tough, demanding and bright”.

Finding the next coach also means finding the right person to pair with Caleb Williams, who Warren called “very special”, for the foreseeable future. Warren even mentioned on Monday, “In the right environment, [Williams] can become even more special than he has already shown.”

“We will get this right, Warren adamantly proclaimed. “We’ll look back on this day and say this was the day we really started pointing in the right direction.”

Then it was Poles’ turn to speak. Fresh off of firing his first head coaching hire less than three years into the job, Poles was soft-spoken and subdued.

“At the end of the day, we just came up short too many times,” Poles explained. The general manager mentioned he was pleased with the growth of the team from year one under Eberflus’ direction to year two, but “we weren’t able to stay on that track in year three.”

Poles described the emotional scene in the locker room after the Thanksgiving Day loss in Detroit as “frustrated”, adding, “It’s important always to have the pulse of the locker room.”

But Poles is not blameless in how this season has spiraled for the Bears. After all, it was the general manager who opted to bring Eberflus back for a third season despite a 10-24 record. So, what gives Warren the confidence that the organization will “get this right”?

Warren sees Poles as a person able to accept fault, but also as someone who “can come up with solutions”. It’s why Poles, who Warren referred to as the “head of football operations”, will have “final say” on the eventual permanent hire, according to the president and CEO.

However, Warren made it clear: the pair will work in tandem and plan to spend time together every day on the search. Despite the organization hiring search firms to help out in the process in the past, it doesn’t sound like that will happen this time around. When asked if they’d seek outside help, Poles said, “We haven’t made that decision, so I think we’re going to lean on the both of us and the rest of our organization.”

Has enough changed in the last three years to prevent Poles from hiring another Eberflus? By all accounts, the former head coach was highly regarded as a person despite his shortcomings as a football coach. The knock against ex-offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who the team fired just 20 days ago, was that he was “too nice”, according to Keenan Allen.

Poles said on Monday, “I know exactly what this team needs.”