Bears keep GM Ryan Poles in driver's seat for coaching search

Bears general manager Ryan Poles was granted a reprieve complete with a second swing at hiring a head coach in Chicago.

Poles will interview candidates and select a replacement for Matt Eberflus, who was fired Friday after the Bears' sixth consecutive loss and fourth of the season decided on a final play.

"Ryan Poles is the general manager of the Chicago Bears, and he will remain the general manager of the Chicago Bears," president and CEO Kevin Warren said Monday. "Ryan will serve as the point person of our upcoming search for a head football coach. We will closely, we will work together on a daily basis to make sure we have the right person as our head football coach."

Warren said the McCaskey family provided "all the resources" to build a championship environment. He confirmed that Thomas Brown, who a month ago was passing game coordinator before replacing Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator, will serve as interim head coach and shift from the press box to the sideline starting this week. Warren did not say whether Brown would automatically receive an interview for the full-time coaching position, which he said "will be the most coveted head coaching job in the National Football League."

Poles said consideration will be given to candidates with the plan to develop rookie No. 1 pick Caleb Williams, but there are no set plans to involve the quarterback in the interview process. He said the Bears showed great progress through two seasons but couldn't sustain growth.

"At the end of the day, we just came up short too many times," Poles said of firing Eberflus, his pick to be the Bears' head coach in January 2022.

Brown promoted wide receivers coach Chris Beatty to interim offensive coordinator on Monday and announced that defensive coordinator Eric Washington will be the defensive play caller, a role Eberflus previously held.

Trailing 23-20 on Thanksgiving Day, the Bears were within field-goal range when quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked. With 32 seconds remaining, Eberflus elected not to use his final timeout as Williams heaved an incompletion down the right sideline as time expired.

"When you look at the end-of-the-game situations, detailing to finish in some of those moments. We all know a lot of games come down to those critical moments where we weren't able to get over the hump," Poles said.

Eberflus said after the game that everything was handled properly and held a press conference via Zoom on Friday voicing confidence he'd have the team ready to play the 49ers this week.

But three hours later, he was fired. Warren admitted the franchise could've handled the timing better, but clarified there was no decision on Eberflus' status at the time of his media session.

"The decision was made to terminate the employment of head coach Matt Eberflus," Warren said 72 hours later. "We try to do everything in a professional manner. That decision was made on Friday."

"Coach Eberflus had his press conference, we had not made a final decision. I think you know me, you know Ryan you know George McCaskey. One thing we stand for is family, integrity, doing it the right way. In retrospect, could we have done it better? Absolutely."

Eberflus, 54, went 14-32 in two-plus seasons.

The Bears (4-8) travel to San Francisco (5-7) in Week 1.

--Field Level Media