Bears’ Kevin Warren: Head coach opening ‘will be the most coveted job’ in the NFL

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles met with the media Monday afternoon, 72 hours after the first in-season firing of a head coach in franchise history.

Warren proclaimed the team’s head coaching vacancy as “the most coveted job in the National Football League this year.”

After the traditional praise for Bears fans and the team’s tradition, Warren outlined the appealing attributes as the Bears join the Jets and Saints — likely among others — in a head-coaching search.

“We’re going to have plenty of salary-cap space,” he said. “We have a young talented roster. We have strong draft capital in the upcoming draft. And we have a quarterback in Caleb Williams who’s shown that he’s very special, and in the right environment, he can become even more special than he already has shown.”

Warren began the news conference with an eight-minute opening statement, in which he said Poles will remain the team’s general manager and be the “point person” for the team’s search for a head coach.

“Ryan is young. He’s talented. He’s bright. He’s hard-working,” Warren said. “He has done everything in his power on a daily basis to bring a winner to Chicago. And I’m confident in Ryan.”

The two will oversee the coaching search “in tandem,” Warren said. When it comes to final say, that seemed a little more complicated.

“Final say is doing what’s right for the best interest of the Chicago Bears,” Warren said. “So I’m confident. I’ve never been concerned about final say or whatever. Ryan, he’s general manager, he leads our football operation, he’ll serve as the point person.”

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Asked about the decision in the case of dissenting opinions, Warren responded, “Ryan is the general manager. He’s the head of football operations, so he will have the final say if it ever got to that point, but I’m confident that we will work through it because the good thing about it is so long as we keep the center of our decisions what’s in the best interest of the Chicago Bears, our players, as we go forward, it will become clear as far as who is the person to lead this franchise from a football standpoint, from a coaching standpoint.”

The Bears fired Eberflus on Friday, making an in-season coaching change for the first time in franchise history less than 24 hours after a three-point loss to the Detroit Lions in which Eberflus was widely criticized for his clock management. The loss dropped the Bears to 4-8 on the season and 14-32 in Eberflus’ two-plus seasons in Chicago. He was 5-19 in one-score games and 2-13 in the NFC North.

“When you look at the end-of-the-game situations, just some of the detailing to finish in those moments.” Poles said. “We all know a lot of these games come down to those critical spots that we weren’t able to get over the hump.”

The firing on Friday came two hours after Eberflus spoke with reporters over Zoom for his weekly day-after-game news conference. He expressed confidence in being the head coach for this week’s game against the 49ers.

Warren said that he, Poles and chairman George McCaskey had been meeting to discuss Eberflus’ future and a decision had yet to be made.

“In retrospect, could we have done better? Yes,” Warren said. “But we were trying to be respectful and we did not know our decision when he started his press conference.”

The Bears promoted Thomas Brown to interim head coach, three weeks after he was promoted to offensive coordinator from passing game coordinator to replace Shane Waldron.

“Thomas is incredibly bright,” Warren said. “He’s hard-working. He’s grown up around the game. He’s talented. He has great leadership capabilities. He’s decisive and he’s clear. And I’m excited to watch him lead our football team.”

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In his first team meeting, Brown didn’t begin with X’s and O’s ahead of a matchup against the 49ers on Sunday, but he wanted to talk about “making sure our house is right.”

“The initial goal is to unify this football team,” Brown said. “Everybody’s on the same accord, moving in the same direction, speaking the same language and attacking with effort. No more divisions. As far as the outside noise, we ignore it. It doesn’t matter, whether it’s positive or negative. What matters is our daily approach, us working together and executing when it’s time to go execute.”

Brown will continue to call plays, only now from the field. Wide receivers coach Chris Beatty will serve as offensive coordinator — Beatty and Brown worked together in 2014 on the Wisconsin Badgers staff. Defensive coordinator Eric Washington will call plays on defense.

Brown said that he met with Eberflus on Friday and received advice from the outgoing head coach. He wouldn’t divulge that advice but thanked Eberflus for interviewing him, pursuing him when Brown had other opportunities, and then elevating him to offensive coordinator.

Warren, Poles and Brown all expressed a focus on the team’s final five games of the season. For Brown, it could be a prolonged job interview, either for Chicago or elsewhere.

“I welcome the challenge,” Brown said. “It’s all hands on deck, and again, it’s not about me. It’s about this football team. So every decision made is going to be about what’s best for this football team moving forward and I’m going to worry about the future in the future. I’m worrying about right now, today.

“I said it before a couple of times, I stand by that: I’m going to be where my feet are. And so it’s about preparing us for the opportunity this week, for that challenge, and that starts with our execution every single day we walk in this building.”

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(Photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)