DABEARSDABOMB

It did seem like the finalists were informed by the candidate listing from the GM, so it very well might be these were 3 of his finalists - that said, I would suspect there would likely be 1-2 others he would want to see. He also obviously has access to all of the other zoom interviews so I presume he has gotten up to speed and gotten to see others too. I don't want him to rush to a decision - this is a big move and the Bears can pivot pretty fast at this point - but with no coaches having been hired yet, they have some benefit of time (at least for now) so why not take it to ensure he is comfortable. That said - if he knows he's zeroed on his person - than go get em.

One thing to note: Quinn and Eberflus are both 4-3 guys. Not sure what that means for certain personnel or not. I presume Roquan and Mack are studs in both and technically Quinn I believe had some of his better years in a 4-3 as well. Quan would be the MIKE in a 4-3 right?  I presume you don’t need Goldman in a 4-3 or you need something different or does Goldman still work well? What about some of the other dlinemen? Or does Mack not move to line and instead become more likely trade candidate?

Busy day tomorrow - Quinn and Eberfus. Could be tomorrow they hire there coach or we will see if Poles wants to meet with anyone else later in the week.

This - I assume he will join Cowboys (or at least that would be his first choice).

That’s the one - you could say he may have got most out of Kyle and Rex too. If I remember right Cutler didn’t gel with Pep - think they brought in his guy from the broncos (Bates) as a replacement. But jay really wanted what he had with Broncos when he came to Bears.

Kafka is a legit good hire. I don't know if I love him as the OC - unless we are hiring an offensive minded coach cause he's still pretty green, but in general I like the idea of Kafka on a coaching staff. I also am very high on Pep Hamilton working with Justin Fields too (he's worked with Herbert, Luck, did wonders with Davis Mills in Houston this year...the list goes on and on).

It is crazy to me that he has gotten so little airplay this cycle. I know he missed on jobs the last two cycles - but usually a candidate with his pedigree gets the eventual momentum and lands the job (kind of like Fangio eventually got the gig). Him not getting a job this cycle would be a shocker to me. I do get the fact that teams don't like waiting until the end of the playoffs - but this cycle more than past cycles it feels like there was an increased patience on the HC hiring front. I mean at this point we still haven't had any team make a hire at HC (unless I am forgetting something).

Makes a ton of sense.

Evidently some reports out there that Khan DID NOT interview for the GM job, rather interviewed for the potential president job when Ted Phillips retires (next year). So Khan is in a holding pattern to see what happens in Pittsburgh but Bears did early diligence so if it were to open they could pounce on Khan. I like this - as long as there was some level of trasnparency with Poles around this being a future move (new head replacing Phillips) and so long as the relationship would be good. Otherwise - it would interject a real backwards power dynamic that could negate the hopeful positive that comes with the new GM. Note: This is even if the reports from DaBearsBlog (who has been pretty spot on throughout this process) are true.

I was with you - I would have gotten Fields, known you can't win with a rookie QB, and moved Mack and others to build some immediate capital so you can start shifting things towards the offense for a bit (or at least rebalancing so you are more equally split). I hope that is what Poles does. If he can get some more draft capital this year - and takes some of that short-term pain for long-term gain, It will build up a lot in my book. Than for any cap room that is left - find a good olineman or two in free agency (I would prioritize center and there are 2 very good centers out there in FA) and ideally get a wideout you believe can help (even if in 3 years you are cutting them, if they can help in year 1-2 with Fields that is important).

On Bieniemy - I figure Poles intimately knows Eric from his time in KC. So if he brings him in - I am on board and have full trust in Poles to get his target. If he doesn't bring him in - than that tells me everything I need to know about Bieniemy the candidate. No one should know Eric as good as Poles would. Dan Quinn is exciting - because he's charismatic and can find and lure great assistants. He has that CEO(ish) swagger as a HC and a superbowl appearance (and choke). He has issues too - but I wouldn't have a major issue. Caldwell is respectable, but has his flaws and has never ran an offensive unit with a good ground game, but likely could get some good coordinators and did outstanding work with the Lions (given it was the Lions - but still - there was a lot not to like about his time with the Lions). Eberus seems pretty intriguing and if you paired him with an OC like Caldwell or Bevell (built up Russel Wilson in Seattle) and someone like Pep Hamilton (who has been a young QB whisperer everywhere he has been) - that would be interesting. I do think we likely see 1-2 more candidates and Pix, like you, I would love it if somehow Bears shocked us and swooped on Daboll. I will also note that Poles very much knows Doug Pederson too - who could be an intriguing option as an OC (if he doesn't get an HC gig this cycle). But like Eric B - if he's out there and Bears don't go to him, it says something too. Plus - there is also the connection Poles has with Flores. Flores big problem was he didn't get along with front office - if this unity could work, there could be something to believe there (and maybe Caldwell works with Flores which was what was always supposed to happen in Miami but health issues got in that way).

This was a huge reason I was very confident in Polian. Beyond his resume - the Bears quietly had him look under the cover(s) during the season - which gave him a much better perspective on the current state, how things operate etc, and I think better positioned him to be very different than Acorsi was. I also think the extended time likely gave Polian a better perspective of George & Ted too - and likely helped inform insights he gave to George around the type of things the org needs to do different (probably all stuff the new GM would say - but w/George & Ted having heard it from Bill too - I think that extra push will put more weight behind them really putting Poles in a position to excel and built out a really talented team (which likely will retain many people that were in-house previously; it wasn't like the Bears drafts were bad, etc; they need different strategy on how to use resources and other things and maybe refine in areas and probably expand certian capabilities - but Poles isn't inheriting a dumpster fire either (which is what Pace techncially inherited from Emery/Trestman). That said - Poles certainly isn't inherting a ton of working capital to start - so one of his first orders of business has to be how he's going to handle the cap and create flexibility and whether he would entertain punting a year and moving some of the aging defensive players (take cap pain now - to create future flexibility and maybe get a few draft assets back along the way).

If I am the Bears - I at least make that phone call. Reality is Payton probably really wants a break and if Payton did want to go to Bears, there is the fact that they don't have that much draft capital.

Yep - I like it - they are moving with a purpose and we will see if the list of names gets expanded. Flores was a college teammate with Poles - but not sure how much that matters. I might be good friends with someone - but that doesn't mean I want them working at the same company as me, etc. Might be better not to work together in that situation.

And for the record - Poles was hired and he did not come from the Bills or Colts, Polian was interested in finding best fit for Bears and it was pretty evident by how many people they interviewed that they took an exhaustive approach to things.

Zero concern here. Poles has been in KC for a while - but under different admins and has seen / been responsible for both pro and collegiate side so has good depth. Now to see how they go with HC - but Bears got there guy and Poles seemed to zero in on Bears and chose Bears over Vikings. Lets roll - now to see what they do with HC - but I presume the HC's coming are in for a reason and are very much on Pole's list. Caldwell is coming in - but he could also be an OC option if Bears go with a defensive minded coach. No one had Pole a week ago as the lead - so I'm not going to assume the league knows what Pole is about to do here. It does seem that either way - we will see a HC likely in Chicago by the end of the week (unless Pole's preferred candidate is on one of the last remaining playoff teams). I would point out - he knows Bienemy as well as anyone and presumably also knows Doug Pederson and others. So if he chooses to bring in either - i will assume he does so really knowing those individuals, just as if he doesn't choose to bring in either - that will tell you something as well.

That would be amazing. Quinn isn’t my favorite but I would live with it for the other two. That said - as much as I keep hoping they hire two of these people, I assume they are only getting one? Unless khan has quietly been interviewing or meeting with some of these people. You can’t hire khan and the other person at the same time (I mean I suppose you can but it doesn’t fit logical sequencing).

I am guessing tomorrow & Wednesday they will have all the GM candidates they want in for a 2nd time. I would be surprised if Khan didn't make the cut (but maybe there interests didn't align - Khan is more of a VP type with a GM reporting into him type of guy in my opinion). I.e., your Ted Phillips on steroids replacement (someone who can make football decisions but also do broader operational type of stuff while leaning heavy on a top team of personnel people). Some good names - I honestly wouldn't have an issue with any of the names floated for GM. Am curious who their respective leans are for coach and what plans they have around building out the front office / structural changes. Reality is we probably won't learn much about the structural changes early on as those will probably happen over time. Eliot Wolf intrigues me though - multiple destination - both at fantastic orgs but also his time with Browns (who added talent and had to overhaul things) but obviously a ton of value from his time with Packers & Pats too. Really - I can make a good case for any of the names - so that is nice.

Yeah - I don't see him taking the Bears job. He is my preferred candidate and I wanted to go the Bills duo, but it seemed like Giants had circled the wagon on their GM a while ago and with the connection and past relationship I think it will be hard for any team not named the Giants to get Daboll. I can cross my fingers and hope that isn't true - but it certainly appears that way. But like you - I do want to get the GM right first as I don't think they should have hired a HC (at least not the names being listed) before having the GM in place. I do think the team could have moved quicker though - since technically the Giants didn't have their positions open as fast as the Bears, but after all the times the Bears rushed/got things wrong - I don't mind methodical, especially in a year with as many good front office caliber people as there is. I really think getting the front office/gm role right is critical because talent wins in this league. Coaching is also very important but we got to get the right person to lead all of the football stuff so lets get that right first. I do like the 3 finalist (or presumed finalist) in Poles, Khanh, and Brown. I would love Khan getting an elevated title and bringing in one of the others as GM.

I think Tabor has done a good job (that said I believe he is on a 2nd interview in Carolina for some position under Rhule). However - while Santos has been accurate inside the 45 - Santos has his issues. Not having a kicker who can hit from deep is a real issue in my opinion. When it comes to late in game game-winners, Santos is pretty low on my list when it comes to nailing a long kick (he just doesn't have the leg). We need to be careful - cause you can find someone worse, but despite his accuracy (which is really good) - Santos is very pedestrian as a whole cause he just has one of the weakest legs of all the kickers in the league. Hopefully he can put some work on that - but I think his power was impacted by those injuries that impacted him (when he left the Chiefs / his initial short lived stint with the Bears - but maybe he can get some of that strength back (while maintaining the accuracy).

I am only concerned if George & Ted tell the GM who the favorites are and who they need to interview. As long as that isn't the case - than I'm only mildly annoyed at the energy spent on the coaching front because maybe if they focused first on GM they would have been done a little faster. That said - now that they are getting close to GM - the new GM should have a heck of a lot more intel to go on when it comes to priortizing his list of coaches (ie. He gets the luxury of reviewing all of the initial interviews + combing that with what his own independent views/what he's heard from his network to form what should be a pretty well refined list with good data). I think there is a good shot that today is the day that one of the eventual GM's is interviewing. I truly believe between Poles & the 2 candidates interviewing today (Brown & Khanh) that one of those 3 is the next hire. I would bet on today's candidates - but I do seriously believe that Poles blew them away in interviews and now the decision isn't quite as easy. In an ideal world Khanh would be hired and you would get one of the other two.

I will continue to say Dabol…Dabol…Dabol!!!

What a weekend of football. Amazing. Feel so bad for the Bills.

20-20; Robbie Gould in career post season field goals. I was mad the day they cut him (someone could probably find lots of my posts on this board)…was even madder when they replaced him with an inferior kicker and am finally happy cause maybe this was the master plan - this kick might have ended the Packers recent dominance in the NFC north!!! I always remember the game winner he hit against Seattle in playoffs - the year the Bears made the Super Bowl (or at least I think it was that year).

They might not get that choice. They are massively over the cap and while they can restructure it - the run is near done with Rodgers. Wont be easy to bring back Adam’s with the cap pressures they have. They will still be good next year (if Rodgers is there)…but a huge question whether he stays or not given another early exit.