Last year we were told that Ted Phillips planned on retiring at the end of the 2022 NFL season. He was even taking a backseat in football operations this year, leaving that up to George McCaskey to handle. The Chicago Bears have been interviewing potential replacements for Phillips over the last few weeks and look to finalize his replacements before the Super Bowl. One front-runner has emerged in Kevin Warren. Should the Bears be able to pull Warren away from the NCAA, it would be a huge splash for this organization.
Phillips is the fourth person to serve as team President. Unfortunately, the Chicago Bears have not been able to find success on the football field under Phillips’ and George McCaskey’s watch. Fans have been calling for a team President who has football knowledge on top of business knowledge for years. That has not happened. Kevin Warren doesn’t have a football background either, but he has more than Phillips and could bring a key change to the Bears organization.
Could Kevin Warren bring necessary changes to the Chicago Bears?
Kevin Warren was the first African-American Chief Operation Officer of an NFL team. He wasn’t a football player, but rather played basketball. He attended Arizona State University and then earned his Juris Doctorate at Notre Dame before starting his career in the NFL.
Warren was hired in 1997 by the Los Angeles (St. Louis at the time) Rams. He held a legal role before being promoted in 2001 to President of Football Administration. He worked closely with Rams coach Dick Vermeil and this is where his football knowledge developed. He was part of the “Greatest Show on Turf” and earned a Super Bowl ring.
Since then, Kevin Warren spent time with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings before taking the Big 10 Commissioner job in 2019. The big draw for the Chicago Bears is obviously Warren’s experience bringing U.S. Bank Stadium to life for the Vikings in 2016. With Arlington Heights the clear favorite for a new stadium location for the Bears, it makes sense to want a President with that type of experience.
If Warren is given and accepts the new team President and Chief Executive Officer position, will Warren change the structure and add a President or at least Vice-President of Football Operations?
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Well, if he liked the structure when he was COO of the Minnesota Vikings, then yes, he very well could be that guy to give fans what they want. The Vikings have had an Executive Vice-President of Football Operations in place for quite some time, including under Kevin Warren’s watch. In fact, the Vikings have Executive Vice Presidents overseeing many key areas of their organization, and bringing Warren in could lead to the organizational shift we have been pushing for over the last decade.