Ryan Poles had a rather subdued few moments during the Chicago Bears‘ Monday press conference. Some wondered if he looked like a GM who’d lost all of his power. Team president Kevin Warren made it clear that wasn’t the case. Far from it. The upcoming head coaching search is Poles’ show. It more felt like the Bears GM was upset and frustrated that things had reached this point, going from 4-2 to 4-8 and having to fire head coach Matt Eberflus midseason. It was a huge letdown.
A better explanation is Poles was trying hard not to let his frustrations show. That was never clearer than near the end of the presser. He was asked what went wrong with the Shane Waldron hire as offensive coordinator. Poles sat there for a good ten seconds, not saying anything. When he finally answered, he made sure to word it carefully. It was plain as day the man was doing his best not to express his true feelings.
How so? There have been a few revelations in the past couple of weeks to support this. Let’s start with the fact that Poles was the one primarily responsible for recruiting Thomas Brown to Chicago. The explanation was they could use another voice to help develop Caleb Williams despite Brown’s primary expertise being with running backs. Don’t forget the Bears interviewed him to become offensive coordinator. They ultimately chose Waldron. Bringing on Brown, coupled with Poles’ reaction, suggests he may have seen the flameout coming and wanted insurance on the staff.
Then there is the other bombshell courtesy of Dave Kaplan at ESPN 1000. He stated Ryan Poles had wanted to move on from Eberflus after last season. Ownership said no. It is likely he knew the head coach didn’t have the necessary chops to build a proper environment for a young quarterback. After all, he was the one who hired Luke Getsy two years ago. Pole may have recognized Waldron’s red flags right away but knew he couldn’t overrule his head coach on staff matters.
No wonder the Bears GM looked so visibly frustrated.
