Ryan Poles to remain Bears general manager and lead search for new head coach

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Ryan Poles will remain the Chicago Bears’ general manager and serve as the “point person” in the search for a head coach to replace the fired Matt Eberflus, team president Kevin Warren said on Monday.

Warren said Poles would have the “final say” if the two have differing opinions on who should get the job.

“I’m confident that we will work through it because the good thing about it is so long as we keep the center of our decisions what’s in the best interest of the Chicago Bears, our players, as we go forward, it will become clear as far as who is the person to lead this franchise from a football standpoint, from a coaching standpoint.”

Chicago (4-8) had never fired a coach during a season. But a six-game losing streak marked by questionable coaching decisions spurred the founding NFL franchise to change course. The Bears let Eberflus go Friday and replaced him on an interim basis with offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.

“When you look at the end of the game situations, just some of the detailing to finish in those moments,” Poles said. “We all know a lot of these games come down to those critical spots that we weren’t able to get over the hump.”

Warren and Poles spoke during a news conference that lasted just under 21 minutes, including about an eight-minute opening statement from Warren.

The tipping point with Eberflus came Thursday, with an excruciating 23-20 loss at Detroit. The Bears let the clock run down rather than call a timeout following a sack, resulting in incomplete pass from the Lions 41 as time expired when they could have run more than one play.

The Bears decided to make the change the next day — but not before Eberflus conducted his usual day-after-the-game availability with reporters via Zoom. He was informed a few hours later.

Warren said the Bears had not made the decision by the time Eberflus held his news conference.

“In retrospect, could we have done it better?” he said. “Absolutely, and I’ll be the first one to raise my hand, yes. But during his press conference and even a couple hours later, we had not reached a decision.”

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