The Chicago Bears thought they did everything right with their head coaching search in 2022. They interviewed several candidates and assembled a good team led by a Hall of Fame general manager, Bill Polian. However, later reports suggest the search was undercooked in several areas. Perhaps the most prevalent was the fact that GM Ryan Poles didn’t bother opening the search after he got the job. He simply met with the three candidates the team liked and picked one.
That led to three brutal seasons of mostly losing, characterized by rampant staff turnover and ugly late-game collapses. Poles nearly lost his job because of that fiasco. He knew that the next head coaching search would have to be different. While the Bears eventually met with 17 different candidates, there was a presumption that there was no organization to the process. In actuality, it was the complete opposite. According to Kevin Warren and George McCaskey, Poles’ approach to the search was obsessive. Adam Jahns of The Athletic got the details.
To say it’s extensive would be an understatement.
“It was the most organized interview process that I’ve ever been involved with,” Warren said. “Not for a coach, I’m talking about for an executive, for anyone. It was great to be able to see that come to life.”
Poles ran his search through Microsoft Teams. Everything was there: the calendar, candidate experience overviews and background information. Upon the conclusion of each interview, the members of Poles’ interview panel — Warren, McCaskey, Matt Feinstein (director of football administration), Jeff King (senior director of player personnel), Ted Crews (chief administrative officer/special adviser to the president and CEO) and Liz Geist (executive vice president of people and culture/chief human resources officer) — were asked to grade each candidate. Poles set a 1-9 scale: 1 being a major concern and 9 meaning excellent. A variety of factors were considered: passion, football intelligence, vision, problem-solving, independence, communication, growth mindset, self-awareness and, of course, a plan for quarterback development.
But Poles wanted written responses, too. The panel was asked to consider a candidate’s background, key skills and leadership traits. They also provided their final assessments of each candidate. For more, Poles added reports where candidates were graded on how they presented themselves publicly in the past as the potential face of the franchise. Poles’ database had links to news articles, press conferences, podcasts and social media posts that featured the candidates.
Say this for Ryan Poles: he doesn’t half-ass anything.
People always think they have a good idea of what it’s like to be in the mind of a general manager. This should remind you that such a notion is absurd. The sheer volume of information these guys process in a single day is insane. Poles utilized his scouting background to construct a search for his head coach. He made sure there was no possible way he’d miss something about every candidate he met with. The more information, the better. It certainly feels like overkill, but this underscores the importance of the decision.
Ryan Poles knew this hire would likely decide his future as GM of the Bears. He couldn’t afford to get it wrong. If that meant going overboard with the preparation, so be it. Everybody seems happy with the results. Ben Johnson already comes across as somebody the organization has waited many years for. If he lives up to the hype, Poles’ process to land him will become the stuff of folklore.
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