Getty Chariman George McCaskey of the Chicago Bears is currently helping select the team's next head coach and general manager.
It has been two weeks since the Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace on Jan. 10, after the team finished with a record at or below .500 for the third straight season.
The Bears have been interviewing potential replacements since parting ways with Pace and Nagy, and a five-member search committee consisting of Bears Chairman George McCaskey team President Ted Phillips, Hall of Fame ex-Colts executive Bill Polian, Bears director of player engagement Lamar “Soup” Campbell and Bears Senior VP for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Tanesha Wade, will select the team’s next head coach and GM.
According to NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, one GM-head coach combination has drawn the interest of Polian, in particular: Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and Colts Director of College Scouting Morocco Brown. Current Kansas City Chiefs Executive Director of Player Personnel, Ryan Poles, has also impressed in Chicago.
Insider Adam Schefter also reported on Jan. 22 that Poles will get a second interview and has also impressed the Bears’ NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings.
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Bears Will Interview Brown on Jan. 24
NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that Brown was set to interview with the Bears on Jan. 24:
Another top insider, Adam Hoge of NBC Sports, called Brown a “strong” candidate to become Chicago’s next GM.
“There are a number of factors that make Brown a logical fit the Bears. For one, he spent seven years as the team’s assistant director of pro personnel from 2001-07, so George McCaskey and Ted Phillips have familiarity with him,” Hoge wrote on Jan. 10.
Former Bears scout Greg Gabriel also thinks an Eberflus-Brown combo is where the Bears will go:
@BryanPerezNFL I think you are correct
The list of general manager candidates for the Bears is extensive. So far, Chicago has interviewed or requested to interview Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly, ex-Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie, 49ers director of personnel Ran Carthon, Patriots consultant Eliot Wolf, Colts assistant general manager Ed Dodds, Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen (who has since been hired as the new GM of the New York Giants), Browns vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook, Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Saints assistant general manager Jeff Ireland.
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Is Polian’s Connection to Colts Influencing His Decision-Making?
Polian has served as general manager of the Buffalo Bills (1986-1992), Carolina Panthers (1995-97) and Indianapolis Colts (1998-2009), where he won a Super Bowl in February of 2007. Some, including SB Nation’s Jacob Infante, are wondering if Polian’s ties to the Colts may be pushing him toward Brown and Eberflus.
If it’s true the #Bears want a Morocco Brown-Matt Eberflus pairing, I can’t help but feel it’s Bill Polian being biased towards the Colts.
Neither are bad candidates, but especially at HC, there are better out there. Can’t help but feel like it’s an old boy’s club situation.
Eberflus is scheduled for his second interview on Jan. 26, as first reported by Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, and he is the only head coach candidate to get a second interview so far for Chicago. We’ll see how it goes, but with eight other NFL teams currently trying to fill GM or head coaching vacancies, things should start to speed up for the Bears.
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