Between the seemingly never-ending wave of candidates, non-stop flow of rumors, and a general feeling of what the heck are they doing? that generally hovers around the Bears, Chicago’s search for general manager and head coach hires has been as exhaustive as it has been exhausting.
But perhaps things are coming to a head here. Moreover, it appears as if we are beginning to see where a power structure starts lining up:
Have heard that the Bears will absolutely hire a GM first, before a head coach. And the GM will be involved in picking the coaching finalists, and eventual coach. Some GM candidates and coaching candidates are getting the opportunity to talk to each other in the process.
— M@ (@MattSpiegel670) January 25, 2022
Indications are #Bears will follow through on what George McCaskey said originally and hire the GM first before then proceeding with the head coach search.https://t.co/rndSZtbdNd
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) January 25, 2022
Those are some pretty carefully worded tweets from 670 The Score midday host Matt Spiegel and Chicago Tribune reporter Brad Biggs. And at the core of each is this: When it comes to Chicago’s hiring process, the Bears seem to be aiming to bring in a GM before a head coach. This, of course, is the most sensible way of doing things.
The Bears going through with a plan to hire a general manager who picks head coach candidates – and eventually, a head coach – feels like good process. This isn’t to say that doing it the other way around is inherently wrong. But demonstrating a chain of command and power structure where the general manager *IS* the football guy and everything flows down from the top seems like a good base to be operating from moving forward. At minimum, Spiegel and Biggs floating this should considered a good sign for GM candidates who might have otherwise felt they would’ve been stuck trying to pick from Bill Polian’s rolodex.
With that being said, I hope the Bears pick up the pace from here on out. Line up general manager finalists, make a pick, let them roll through with coach candidate options, set up finalist interviews if some of their options happen to be people the team already set groundwork with in prior interviews, and let’s friggin’ go!