I was genuinely excited about the Chicago Bears hiring Ryan Poles as their general manager in 2022. And it went beyond the shiny new toy aspect of the move, too. Pushing Ryan Pace out to bring Ryan Poles in was supposed to usher in a new way of doing things at Halas Hall. But now, I’m not sure that’s how the cookie crumbled.
Ryan Poles was hired to be the lead decision-maker and top football guy in the organization. And with that, it was supposed to mean that Poles was supposed to be the authority figure at Halas Hall. The guy who made all the hard decisions, thus taking them out of the hands of Chairman George McCaskey and President Ted Phillips โ who shouldn’t have been authority figures when it came to making football decisions at any point.
But while chopping it up on an ESPN Chicago podcast, reporter Courtney Cronin spilled some tea on the Matt Eberflus hire. For some, this nugget will come as a surprise. But for others, it’s a story that Bears fans know all too well:
“He didn’t hire. I know what’s out there. He was not the one who had the ultimate say on Matt Eberflus. That was a Ted Phillips, and that was a George McCaskey decision at the end of the day. So this would be Ryan Poles making that first real decision on a head coach. I know what was said, but if you talk to people inside the building about who had the real juice at that moment, that was a Ted Phillips and George McCaskey decision ultimately.”
Oh. Em. Gee. This is the same old song all over again. Gross.
Hearing Courtney Cronin drop that nugget was a punch to the gut. I was certain that the Bears were done with their old ways of doing business. That old way of doing things is one reason the franchise seems stuck in the past. Maybe GM Ryan Poles can get this thing off that track and onto a modern path. If he can, it’ll mean he has overcome the toxic cycle of Bears hires. It won’t be easy, but nothing ever is when it comes to the Bears.
Inside the toxic cycle of Bears hires
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the toxic cycle of Bears hires, here’s what happens:
- STEP ONE: Bears fire coach
- STEP TWO: Bears hire general manager
- STEP THREE: Bears ownership arranges a partnership between the new general manager and management’s hand-picked head coach
- STEP FOUR: Bears general manager jettisons ownership-selected head coach for their own
- STEP FIVE: Bears fire general manager
Sigh. It’s Ernie Accorsi pushing John Fox on Ryan Pace all over again. Nothing says Chicago Bears football like putting a conservative, defensive-leaning head coach with a developing first-round quarterback. I wonder if Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields realize how they were put behind the 8-ball immediately upon their arrival into the NFL.
Now, I think we’ve got some time before the Bears push GM Ryan Poles out the door. After all, Poles appears to be in good standing after two solid draft classes, swinging this generation’s version of the Herschel Walker trade, putting the franchise in a position to do it again, and clearing a whole bunch of cap space. But we’ve already cleared the first three steps of the Bears hiring cycle. And I’m not sure we’re too far from reaching Step Four.
For what it’s worth, Matt Eberflus’ job status still remains up in the air. While there was a report strongly suggesting that Eberflus was expected back with the Bears in 2024, there haven’t been any reports confirming the early buzz. And Eberflus declined to comment on the situation. That puts me in wait-and-see mode. But if the past is any indication of the future, we’ll all need to keep our heads on a swivel.
For the full show, check out the video below: