When reflecting on the hiring process that led to Luke Getsy being hired as the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator in 2022, Ryan Poles noted that they had a rushed process due to having just hired a head coach and needed to get things moving quickly.
The process last January would be different, much more thorough than the last time and with the deficiencies of the last offensive coordinator fresh in his mind, Ryan Poles was confident he and Matt Eberflus would find the right guy to match up with their soon-to-be first overall draft pick, Caleb Williams. At the time, there was no mention of Kevin Warren being involved with the Bears offensive coordinator search.
Fast Forward 10 months. The Chicago Bears hired and fired Shane Waldron. Matt Eberflus has been let go as well. Somehow through it all, Caleb Wiliams is not only surviving but beginning to thrive despite the chaos.
The last we heard and saw from the Bears brass, we all heard that Ryan Poles would be the one running the show, a 'point person' for the Bears head coaching search who would ultimately have the final say if he and Kevin Warren disagreed on the right candidate to hire for the job.
However, what we all saw was something different. What everyone saw in that press conference was a president in Kevin Warren deciding that it was time to enter the fray and make a stamp on this organization. Something he didn't feel the need to do last season, when the Bears were making a critical offensive coordinator hire. Sensing the importance of the offseason ahead, he could not cede all the power to Ryan Poles to make this critical hire at a critical junction for the organization.
The fallout from the press conference has been loud, cries of dysfunction raining down on this team saying that no one will want the job because the GM has had his legs cut out from underneath him. Yet, I believe that Kevin Warren's involvement may actually be in the best interest of the Chicago Bears and Ryan Poles' long-term future in charge of Bears football operations.
Ryan Poles does not deserve to be solely responsible for the Chicago Bears' head coaching search
Under Ryan Poles, the Chicago Bears have hired two offensive coordinators who actively stunted the development of two young quarterbacks. Under Ryan Poles, the Chicago Bears hired a defensive-minded head coach who is good at preaching acronyms and philosophy to his locker room but fails to hold himself to the same mantra when a litany of end-of-game miscues doomed his team over and over again in 2023. Under Ryan Poles, the Chicago Bears also doubled down on retaining said head coach, knowing he would be drafting a rookie quarterback and building a team with playoff aspirations in 2024.
This is where the excuses for the coaching hire misfires begin to fall flat. When hired in 2022, Poles said his search for a head coach started long before he got the Bears job, but rather when he knew he wanted to be a GM. If that's the case, then that would have also extended to potential offensive and defensive coordinators that he felt embodied the style of the team he aspired to build. Yet, they ended on Luke Getsy, who lasted 2 years.
That said, it was his first hire with his new head coach, and maybe he deserves grace, but when adding in the Waldron decision, a picture of a GM that struggles to identify coaching talent starts to become clearer. Maybe Poles respected the head coach's authority too much and didn't want to assert himself in staff decisions, but if that's the case then that should have been the first red flag that he had the wrong guy leading his team. Yet another mark against him.
Poles has done a lot of good things for the Chicago Bears. He's built a strong front office staff that drafts well, including finding a starting-level left tackle in the fourth round and an elite secondary from a batch of second-round picks. He's had his misses, but for whatever identity the Bears lack on the field, there is a clear identity with which they target and identify prospects in the draft, which is commendable.
He's also proven to be an aggressive player in the trade market, not letting past mistakes scare him from taking future risks but letting those mistakes improve his process (see: trading for Chase Claypool and Montez Sweat in back-to-back seasons). It's yet to be seen how his free agency approach evolves over time, but aside from the Nate Davis whiff he's shown to be smart with free agents as well.
Warren being involved in the head coaching search doesn't stop Poles from excelling in any of his other job functions. It helps him ensure that he gets the right partner with which to build this program, and for a 38-year-old GM that still has a lot of promise, there should be no shame in humbling yourself and acknowledging that building a coaching staff has been your biggest weakness.
Now, Warren still has to prove that he can go out with Ryan Poles and identify the right guy to lead the Chicago Bears, and if he gets it wrong, then he'll wear the criticism, too. Yet, for where this team is now, it should be all hands on deck to make sure that the Chicago Bears get the right coach to pair with their young quarterback. The General Manager's ego should not be a factor because, hopefully, it's a long while before anyone in this organization is talking about another head coaching search.