Ryan Poles isn’t going anywhere.
Bears president Kevin Warren confirmed Monday that the team’s current general manager “will remain the general manager” and spearhead the upcoming head coaching search following Friday’s firing of Matt Eberflus.
“Ryan Poles is the general manager of the Chicago Bears, and he will remain the general manager of the Chicago Bears,” Warren said, according to Pro Football Talk.
“Ryan is young, he’s talented, he’s bright, he’s hard-working. He has done everything in his power on a daily basis to bring a winner to Chicago, and I’m confident in Ryan. My faith remains strong in Ryan. And as leader of our football operations department, and as our general manager, Ryan will serve as the point person on our coach, for our upcoming search for a permanent head football coach.”
The Bears hired Poles in January 2022 after he served as the Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel. He started as a scouting assistant for Kansas City in 2009.
Poles conducted the second round of head coaching interviews for the Bears after being hired and decided on Eberflus in January 2022. Eberflus had been the Colts’ defensive coordinator at the time.
Eberflus went 14-32 during his two-plus seasons at the helm.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the Bears’ latest loss, a 23-20 heartbreaker to the Lions on Thanksgiving.
The Bears, now 4-8, let the clock run down from 32 seconds to six seconds, despite having a timeout at the ready.
“The hope was we could re-rack the play, snap it with about 18 seconds left, throw it into field-goal range and call the timeout,” Eberflus said.
Eberflus conducted his press conference Friday morning and was fired shortly after.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has since been named interim head coach.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Sunday that Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury — who served as a senior offensive analyst at USC in Williams’ final season in 2023 — is considered a top candidate for the Bears’ job, along with ex-Titans coach Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, the Lions’ offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively.
The Bears visit the 49ers on Sunday.