As the general manager, Ryan Poles would always draw most of the criticism whenever things went wrong for the Chicago Bears. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that lots of the heat for the Matt Eberflus debacle is pointed in his direction. He was the one who made the hire, indicating the former head coach had many of the same qualities as Lovie Smith years ago. Obviously, he was mistaken about that. This is why plenty of Bears fans are more than nervous about giving Poles another crack at hiring a coach.
However, a new wrinkle emerged recently via David Kaplan of ESPN 1000: It was all but confirmed that Poles and Eberflus were an arranged marriage. Team chairman George McCaskey had a short list of names he liked and allowed Poles to choose from it. He chose Eberflus. Another top Bears insider has since backed this up. Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron revealed that the Eberflus hire was almost exclusively spearheaded by McCaskey and advisor Bill Polian. Poles merely had the illusion of choice.
“This was a hire that was doomed from the start. The Bill Polian GM and head coach search was always flawed. Don’t pin this hire on Ryan Poles. If you want to criticize Poles for Chase Claypool or Nate Davis, go for it. But you cannot criticize him for the Matt Eberflus hire. That was not him. That was Bill Polian and George McCaskey. Sure, Ryan Poles gave it a rubber stamp, but what was he supposed to do? Pound the table for Jim Caldwell? The list of finalists was poor and when you pick from a bad list, you’ll end up with a bad coach.”
Ryan Poles is in the same spot as Ryan Pace in 2018.
Pace ran into the same problem when he first arrived in 2015. McCaskey and an advisor (Ernie Accorsi) pinpointed John Fox as the guy they liked. Rather than rock the boat by making a stand, Pace went along with it. Three years later, Fox was fired. The GM was then given full autonomy to find a head coach. Pace ended up going with Matt Nagy. While not a complete flop, it wasn’t good enough to hide Pace’s massive blunder of drafting Mitch Trubisky at quarterback. It sounds like Poles will have full authority, with help from team president Kevin Warren, to go after a coach of his choosing.
If true, there is a good chance this search could look a lot different from how the previous one played out. Early signs suggest the Bears will target an offensive coach who can develop Caleb Williams. That isn’t a surprise. Pace did the same thing. The key is finding someone who can also lead the rest of the team. It isn’t easy. If it were, the Bears would’ve figured it out years ago. Ryan Poles is no stranger to pressure situations. This is probably the most important next two months of his career.
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