The Chicago Bears are about to go hunting for their fifth head coach since 2013. That should be a dead giveaway that their process is flawed when it comes to finding the right guy for the job. Some have wondered if a core part of the problem is ownership’s tendency to rely on search firms to help them find good candidates. It is a process they have utilized for much of the past two decades. That is how they landed Marc Trestman, John Fox, and Matt Eberflus. Don’t forget that Ernie Accorsi and Bill Polian represented search firms when they joined the Bears in 2015 and 2022, respectively.
Clearly, the process doesn’t work. The smarter play would be for the Bears to trust their two men at the top, GM Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren, to do the research and make the right choice. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune offered an update on this topic. One NFL executive fears the Bears are at least considering a search firm again, and it’s likely to bite them in the ass again.
One item that was left unclear is if anyone else will have a significant hand in the process. The duo was asked if the team would involve a search firm, which is more common when teams are hiring a GM than a coach.
“We have not made that decision right now,” Poles said. “We are going to lean on both of us and our entire organization, everyone in that think tank, and make sure we make the best decision.”
One longtime league executive believes that was a sign the Bears at least have floated the idea internally. Whether that’s true, who knows, but Poles didn’t dismiss the possibility and he’s pretty straightforward in these settings.
“That tells me they haven’t flushed it out yet, and that’s a stupid way to hire a coach,” the executive said. “That’s what colleges do.”
The Chicago Bears’ reliance on search firms started two decades ago.
The first confirmed case of them using one was in 2001. A company guided them to Jerry Angelo in Tampa Bay, who would become their next GM. Angelo would help raise the Bears back to respectability in the 2000s. That success probably convinced the McCaskey family that search firms were the way to go. If they’d paid closer attention, they might’ve realized luck played a central role in a lot of Angelo’s success. He inherited Brian Urlacher from the previous regime and stumbled onto a successful head coach. Don’t forget Lovie Smith wasn’t his first choice. People choose to ignore how poor Angelo was with 1st round picks during his tenure.
The point is that search firms aren’t truly invested in the success of your franchise, only your money. By letting Poles and Warren run the search exclusively, the Chicago Bears will at least have two guys with tons of motivation to get it right. After all, their jobs could be on the line if they fail. The vetting process has already begun. Four names have surfaced on their list of candidates. Expectations are it will settle around 10-12 before interviews start. If a search firm does get involved, you can probably guess how it’ll go.
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