Category: Offseason

Bears HC candidate profile: Get to know Jim Caldwell

We’re taking a look at what Jim Caldwell brings to the table in our Bears head coach candidate profile.

The Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Nagy after four years, and they’ve wasted no time exploring candidates to replace him.

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 conduct the search for Chicago’s next GM, a process which McCaskey promised would be “thorough, diligent and exhausted.”

The Bears have cast a wide net of head coach candidates that they’ve interviewed, including former Detroit Lions/Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell.

Let’s take a look at what Caldwell brings to the table in our Bears head coach candidate profile:

Report: Bill Polian pushing for Matt Eberflus-Morocco Brown combo for Bears head coach, GM

Sounds like Matt Eberflus and Morocco Brown are the favorites for Bears head coach and GM. But there’s one GM candidate still firmly in it.

The Chicago Bears are wrapping up the second week of their head coach and general manager search, where there are some candidates starting to emerge as favorites for the vacancies.

The Bears would ideally like to have a GM in place before hiring a head coach. While they’ve been interviewing both GM and head coach candidates simultaneously, it seems like they’ve still committed to that. And there are some new favorites emerging.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, there’s been talk that Bill Polian, who’s assisting in the search, has been pushing for a Matt Eberflus-Morocco Brown combination at head coach and GM.

There’s an obvious Indianapolis Colts connection as Eberflus serves as the defensive coordinator while Brown serves as the college scouting director in Indy. Polian served as the Colts’ team president and GM from 1998-2011.

It’s the kind of arranged marriage that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

But Garafolo noted that there’s also a wild card in the mix in Chiefs executive Ryan Poles, who has impressed them. Poles is “firmly in the mix” for that GM vacancy, and he’s the first GM candidate to receive a second interview.

Poles has been in high demand this offseason as he was a finalist for the New York Giants GM position before they went with Joe Schoen as GM. Poles is also a finalist for the Minnesota Vikings GM opening.

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Ranking the Bears’ head coach candidates

The Bears have an interesting group of candidates for their head coach vacancy. We’re ranking them here:

The Chicago Bears are searching for a new head coach after parting ways with Matt Nagy last week, and there’s been no shortage of intriguing candidates to replace him.

The Bears requested to interview 11 candidates for head coach, and there are still four candidates yet to interview before the organization finalizes their list. And it’s certainly a diverse group, which includes offensive- and defensive-minded guys, as well as former head coaches.

While it’s difficult to rank the current crop of candidates, I’m ranking them based on my preference and qualification.

Bears request second interview with Ryan Poles for GM opening

The Bears have their first finalist for their GM opening as they’ve requested a second interview with Chiefs exec Ryan Poles.

The Chicago Bears are in the middle of their general manager and head coach searches, where they’ve been making their way down their extensive list of candidates.

The Bears interviewed Kansas City Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles for their GM vacancy on Friday. And it didn’t take long for them to request a second interview with him.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Poles has asked to interview for the second time for the Bears GM job, an indication that he’s the first finalist for their opening.

Poles is also a finalist for the Minnesota Vikings GM opening, and was a finalist for the New York Giants job before they hired Joe Schoen.

Poles is considered a rising star within the Chiefs organization. He got his start as a scouting assistant with Kansas City in 2009 before making his ascent within the organization. He was promoted to director of college scouting in 2016 before he was promoted once more to assistant director of player personnel in 2018. Poles recently stepped into the role as Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel. He was a finalist for the Panthers GM job last offseason.

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Bears complete interviews with Leslie Frazier and Ryan Poles on Friday

Leslie Frazier and Ryan Poles interviewed for the Bears’ vacant head coach and GM jobs on Friday.

The Chicago Bears are in the middle of their searches for a new general manager and head coach following the firings of Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy last 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 been conducting interviews.

They completed two more interviews for their head coach job with Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and for their GM job with Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles on Friday.

Frazier boasts over 20 years of NFL coaching experience, including serving as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2011-13. He’s served as a defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals (2003-04), Vikings (2007-10), Buccaneers (2014-15) and now Bills (2017-21). As a player, he was a member of the 1985 Bears.

Poles is considered a rising star within the Chiefs organization. He got his start as a scouting assistant with Kansas City in 2009 before making his ascent within the organization. He was promoted to director of college scouting in 2016 before he was promoted once more to assistant director of player personnel in 2018. Poles recently stepped into the role as Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel. He was a finalist for the Panthers GM job last offseason.

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Bears GM candidate profile: Get to know Eliot Wolf

We’re taking a look at what Eliot Wolf brings to the table in our Bears GM candidate profile.

The Chicago Bears fired general manager Ryan Pace after seven seasons, and they’ve wasted no time exploring candidates to replace him.

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 conduct the search for Chicago’s next GM, a process which McCaskey promised would be “thorough, diligent and exhausted.”

The Bears have cast a wide net of GM candidates that they’ve extended interviews to, including New England Patriots front office consultant Eliot Wolf, who interviewed for the job earlier this week.

Let’s take an in-depth look at what Wolf brings to the table in our Bears GM candidate profile:

Giants hire Bears GM candidate Joe Schoen as general manager

One Bears GM candidate is off the market as the Giants have hired Joe Schoen as their new GM.

The Chicago Bears are in the middle of their search for a new general manager and head coach, but one team already has a step on them.

The New York Giants, one of three other teams looking for a new GM and head coach, have hired Joe Schoen as their new GM. Schoen interviewed with the Bears for their GM vacancy last Sunday. Five days later, he’s now with the Giants.

Schoen was considered to be a top GM candidate this cycle. He served as GM Brandon Beane’s assistant in Buffalo, and he’s developed plenty of experience on the scouting and personnel side of things.

While there are still plenty of GM candidates in the mix for Chicago, the bigger concern is the head coaching pool, which isn’t as deep as GM.

With Schoen now in place at GM, the Giants are set to begin their search for a new head coach, where they’re set to interview Brian Daboll, Brian Flores, Leslie Frazier and Dan Quinn among others. All four of those candidates have interviewed or are set to interview with the Bears.

While the Bears are doing their due diligence in casting a wide net of candidates for GM, you have to wonder if they’re actually helping their case or hurting it. Especially as two other teams, the Vikings and Raiders, also have GMs to hire.

Chicago’s GM interviews are expected to stretch into next week, where guys like Morocco Brown, Rick Smith, Omar Khan and Ryan Poles are still on the docket.

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Ranking the Bears’ general manager candidates

The Bears have a diverse group of candidates for their general manager vacancy. We’re ranking them here:

The Chicago Bears are searching for a new general manager after parting ways with Ryan Pace last week, and there’s been no shortage of intriguing candidates to replace him.

The Bears requested to interview 15 candidates for GM, and there are still four candidates yet to interview before the organization finalizes their list. And it’s certainly a diverse group, which includes stars on the rise and former GMs.

Ed Dodds interviewed with the Bears earlier this week, and he’s since taken his name out of the running, which leaves Chicago with 14 confirmed candidates.

While it’s difficult to rank the current crop of candidates, I’m ranking them based on my preference and qualification.

Updated list of head coach, GM candidates Bears have interviewed

Here’s an updates list of the head coaching and GM candidates the Bears have interviewed or will interview.

The Chicago Bears are in the middle of their search for a new general manager and head coach after firing Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy last week.

The Bears have cast a wide net of candidates for their vacant GM and head coach jobs, and the first round of interviews have continued into 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 been conducting interviews.

Below is a running list of the head coaching and GM candidates the Bears have requested to interview or have interviewed. Keep checking back for updates.

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ESPN’s Dan Graziano reveals current favorites for Bears head coach job

ESPN’s Dan Graziano says there are 3 candidates emerging as names to watch in the Bears’ head coach search.

The Bears are in the middle of their head coach and general manager search after firing Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace last week, where they’ve still got some interviews left on the docket.

They’ve lined up a slew of coaching candidates ranging from offensive to defensive guys to former head coaches. But chairman George McCaskey made it clear they’re looking for a leader, not a specific offensive or defensive coach.

According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and former Eagles head coach Doug Pederson have emerged as the current favorites in Chicago’s coaching search. All three are former head coaches.

It’s interesting to note that Caldwell turned down interview requests with both the Raiders and Vikings, according to Graziano, which indicates he could be holding out for the Bears job.

According to multiple sources, the Raiders and Vikings both reached out to former Colts and Lions coach Jim Caldwell this week to request to interview him, and he declined both requests. This indicates strongly that Caldwell believes he will get one of the other open jobs, and my understanding is that he’s in the mix in both Chicago and Jacksonville and already is reaching out to candidates for his staff.

If I had to bet right now, I’d say Caldwell ends up in Chicago, where former Colts general manager Bill Polian is helping direct the search, though it’s obviously interesting that Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is scheduled for a second interview there.

Graziano also mentioned Frazier and Pederson are names to watch with the Bears.

The Bears were interviewing Bills defensive coordinator and former Vikings coach Leslie Frazier on Friday, and I’m told there’s still support for Frazier in their building. Former Eagles coach Doug Pederson is also someone to watch in Chicago if Caldwell doesn’t turn out to be its guy.

The Bears have already requested a second interview with Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, who is now a finalist for the job. It’ll be interesting to see who else garners another look…once Chicago is done with their first round of interviews.

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