Bears complete interviews with Brian Flores, Jeff Ireland

The Bears conducted interviews with HC candidate Brian Flores and GM candidate Jeff Ireland on Friday.

The Chicago Bears are int he middle of their searches for a new general manager and head coach following the firings of Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy earlier this week.

Chairman George McCaskey, President/CEO Ted Phillips, Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian, VP of Player Engagement Lamar ‘Soup’ Campbell and Senior VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Tanesha Wade will be conducting the GM search for the Bears, where they’ve already started lining up interviews.

They completed a couple of more interviews for their vacant GM job with Bears Assistant Director of Player Personnel Champ Kelly and Browns VP of Football Operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Thursday.

Flores is a product of Bill Belichick, as he got his start with the New England Patriots. Flores started as a scouting assistant (2004) and eventually progressed to defense, where he served as safeties (2012-15) and linebackers (2016-18) coach. The Dolphins hired him as their head coach in 2019.

Ireland has worked in the Saints’ personnel department since 2017. The Saints are an organization that Chicago would certainly like to replicate, and Ireland has been part of New Orleans’ success. Ireland has also served as the Dolphins GM from 2008-13 after seven seasons with the Cowboys, which included a stint as VP of college and pro scouting.

The Bears have cast a wide net of candidates for both GM and head coach. Here’s a look at the complete list of head coach and GM candidates Chicago has requested to interview or has interviewed:

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