Even though many fans believed Ryan Poles was on the hot seat, he still remains the Chicago Bears' general manager. Last offseason, many thought his assistant general manager, Ian Cunningham, would land his own general manager position. Despite a couple of interviews, he never got the nod and remained with the Bears throughout the 2024 season. It was a good thing, too; as rumors have it, he was the reason Poles didn't trade up for Rome Odunze.
Now, Cunningham is going through another hiring cycle and the one job that looked promising was with the Tennessee Titans. Cunningham interviewed with the Titans for the job in 2023 but lost out to Ran Carthon. Carthon only lasted two seasons and the Titans brought Cunningham back in for a second look. Unfortunately, Cunningham lost out on the job once again -- this time to Mike Borgonzi.
With the current landscape of general manager openings, it is hard to picture Cunningham getting another shot this offseason. I'm sure Ryan Poles finds the situation to be bittersweet since he continues to work with one of his closest friends and confidants, but he also wants to see Cunningham succeed and get his own opportunity. As a franchise, keeping Cunningham around probably strengthens the front office, especially since Jeff King is another name being talked about in many potential future GM circles. Those three, on paper, seem like a great trio.
Many fans are disappointed the Titans didn't hire Ian Cunningham
The reason many fans are highly disappointed seeing Borgonzi hired over Cunningham involves a newer rule in the NFL that awards compensatory draft picks to teams that lose minority coaches or executives to other teams that promote them to be their head coach or general manager. If Cunningham was given the keys to the Titans' front office instead of Mike Borgonzi, then the Chicago Bears would have earned two third-round compensatory picks. With Ryan Poles' third-round draft history, that might not have mattered, though.
No one is saying Ian Cunningham was more qualified than Mike Borgonzi either. Borgonzi, like Ryan Poles, comes from the Kansas City Chiefs organization. He has been with the Chiefs for 16 years and has been the assistant general manager for the last four. I do think Cunningham will eventually get his shot, and the hope is that when he does, he will be leaving the Chicago Bears. This way they do get something in return for their investment in Cunningham over the last few years.