General manager Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears must hit a home run with this head coaching search, or risk significantly damaging wunderkind quarterback Caleb Williams’ chances of reaching his potential and the franchise’s hopes of returning to meaningfully competing for Super Bowls.
After firing Matt Eberflus on Black Friday, the pressure is on Poles to build out a coaching staff capable of turning the tides of a woebegone franchise that hasn’t made the postseason since the 2020 campaign.
Bears criticized for lack of plan for coaching search
As the coaching search gets underway, the Bears plan to interview Pete Carroll and were denied the opportunity, by the Dallas Cowboys, to speak with Mike McCarthy about the vacancy.
However, one former player believes Poles and the Bears are already bungling the coaching search.
“It feels like they are trying to do this in a way that they can’t get criticized,” Chris Canty recently said on ESPN. “And, it’s a fine line between casting a wide net, and having an aimless coaching search.”
To date, the Bears have scheduled interviews with Carroll, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, with interview requests placed with several other candidates Chicago hopes to speak with about the job.
Canty, though, doesn’t see a plan nor roadmap from Poles and the Bears.
“You have to have a plan or an archetype that you’re looking for,” Canty explained. “There has to be a particular criteria. Now, I understand that you want to get as much information as you can, on all of these people that are out there in the coaching world, just so you can have information in case you have to coach against these people.
“But, I guess what my whole point is for the Chicago Bears is it should feel a lot more structured than it already is. We don’t know if it’s Ryan Poles or Kevin Warren who is making the hire. We don’t even know if Ryan Poles got a contract extension, but wouldn’t you want it out there so that the coach that you’re hiring knows that this guy is going to be around for the foreseeable future?”
Whoever the Bears wind up hiring inherits a franchise quarterback, some explosive playmakers on offense, but a defense that is still very much a work in progress. How Poles, Warren, and the front office weigh how to get the most out of those assets and how to continue building is going to determine whether the Bears remain mired in mediocrity or can take major steps forward, beginning as early as 2025.
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