DABEARSDABOMB

Hell yeah!!!

I hope Bills win to buy Bears at least a week with Dabol since teams in playoffs can’t interview past tomorrow.

He actually was pretty good with Lions. I believe he made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years and got fired after they were in the playoffs. If you think about that for a second that ain’t bad for the Lions. I think if Bears go with one of the defensive guys Caldwell ends up as the OC.

I think if he goes to Vegas - it is because they give him a Gruden(esque) contract. Bears aren't going to offer Harbaugh some crazy 10yr 100M deal (but Raiders might).

I think with Harbaugh - it really is probably some back channels to understand what is out there and than it just comes down to at some point if they want to - there will be no leak - it will just happen really fast and we will see - breaking news Bears hire Jim Harbaugh. But at this point - I also don't think Bears want to give any perception they were always going to go with Jim and my guess is Polian has advised them that no matter who they hire - going through a depth of candidates is a good thing because you will get a depth of insights and perspectives to help better inform you and quite frankly educate Bears ownership.

He has withdrawn himself from 3 different GM interviews over past couple of years. Some speculation that he didn't interview well. Some indications that he has an abrasive personality and some views that maybe he just is a much better fit as a scout (vs. a GM). In general - while he is clearly an elite scout - the fit doesn't seem right here. I really think it will come down to Khan, Morocco Brown (Colts - but more generally viewed higher in league circles in terms of GM potential), and Rick Smith. I don't think it is coincidence that those 3 will be some of the final 1st round candidates either. I also continue to believe if you hire Khanh - the GM role really is the quasi president role. He's the bigger business / cap / strategic guy and my presumption is he likely restructures the front office to bring in an Asst GM (potentially champ Bailey) and elevates some other roles to increase the overall horsepower. My guess is Rick Smith would do something similar. I still think some of the "up and coming" names they interviewed could also be on the docket to get hired for "other firepower" roles within the org. Or at least that would be the type of thing that would get me to start thinking the Bears got this right this time. Timing wise - while I hate putting a timeline out there - they got to get to 2nd rounds later in the week and make a decision no later than Monday/Tuesday. Than accelerate the coaching carousel and in-house and get that decision made in following week (unless there is a candidate you have to wait on hiring because of an extended post-season run). In meantime - front office can start building out plans for draft, planning the cap, etc.

I am thinking sometime late this week Bears hire their GM. My hope is by Wednesday they are bringing candidates in person / doing their 2nd round.

One would think it might - but evidently it happens all the time. My guess is it is such a small world it just happens a lot. Just like GMs and players might share an agent - although I think it likely happens pretty rarely. A lot of GMs don’t even have agents (which would kind of make sense - if you negotiate deals for a living do you really need an agent?). If you did only reason I would think you would is to let him be the bad guy so you aren’t and than working with the owner after pushing to maximize your value.

I'm pretty happy with that too. I think they share an agent as well (which usually helps, oddly enough). I do like your point - get one from the Bills, one from the Colts - ensure they can work together and let the sweet magic happen in Chicago!!!

Please let Olave be there - done and done.

We are spot on - that was all I could think about. Fields is such a great fit in that offense and Dabol just does such a nice job putting his QB in a spot to excel. And all the work he did to improve Allen’s accuracy. You hire Dabol and you are getting the guy who built that system. Allen is a stud - but he helped make Allen that good. No Andy Reid he was hiding behind. He was fully in charge of the offense and built it. When the league adjusted this year - he adjusted back. And he just had two straight games vs a Pats D where they didn’t punt (I think). That is crazy good. Especially when the 3rd time in one season vs Bill…a GOAT at scheming and you score 7 TD in first 7 posessions.

Yes - hire this guy asap. Don’t let someone else grab him. Get the Bills Asst GM too to pair him with or Dodds from Colts.

I mean just look at how Dabol uses Allen. He uses his legs and athleticism perfectly to put him in great spot. Designed runs but effective roll outs to pressure the D and make the reads easy on his QB. Fields is not very different from Allen when it comes to physical tools either. Man I am getting excited already.

Bears should just hire Shoen and Dabol. Seriously I don’t want to over think this. Bills have drafted well, made good trades, run a good team. Don’t get cute and take the two Bills guys. Than see if Dabol can go lure Fangio to be DC :).  I want Dabol building an offense around Fields. I also want Dabol bringing Ken Dorsey with him too!

So I wonder if Wolf/Brown are actually people you are looking to meet with now - but really getting insights for potential for new GM to bring as Asst GM. Schoen apparently had a stellar interview with Giants yesterday and would have comfort in Schoen/Daboll pairing. If I'm going Colts - Dodds is really the name I like. Less intrigued with the pair there, but probably cause I just don't know Eberflus enough.

They said the coaching crop is meh, but the front office crop is super deep and barely any teams hunting for GM's. Bears have a lot of great candidates and quite frankly i still say they might be able to poach a GM and add to their organizational depth by grabbing someone else. I still think Bears goal should be to pluck someone who can get promoted in a few years and have someone else within the org who can move up - create depth so McCaskey never has to really make this type of hire again.

Your list is awesome - I threw it into the original post. I still lean towards Daboll, Bowles and Quinn as my 3 favorite candidates (if they don't go Harbaugh). Josh McDaniels name isn't on here, but there are rumors Bears are interested but McDaniels won't meet with teams until after Pats are out of playoffs. I actually wonder if Pederson might be in play for an OC role. Especially if Bears hire a defensive HC.

I figure they are getting that independent assessment from Polian and this is just more data (as I believe some of these get recorded in remote setting) that this gives more info for new GM too. I also believe the Bears end up hiring more than a GM as part of this. With the wide net cast my guess is we see the new GM poach someone else from these interviews.

Champ Kelly and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah interviewing today. Ireland is apparently confirmed for tomorrow. Kelly is a new name on the list (in-house - but whether they find him serious or not - it is very much worth interviewing him to give a clearly perspective on his vision for the team and I'm really curious what Polian's views are out of that meeting in particular).

I am not too worried about that - it is a good point though but Bears scouting was built up a lot in past couple years and Paces drafts were pretty solid last 2 years. Pace issue was how Willy nilly he was with draft capital and how ineffective he was at managing cap and roster.

Right now I am quite happy with the starting point. They seem to have a plan to cast a wide net - have circled all the good candidates and should get pretty good divergent thought from the group and get really good insights on their personal and potential ideas out there. From there they can narrow the list and start to accelerate the search but the plan so far seems to be going pretty good. Beyond that - there aren’t a lot of teams hiring a GM, so time really doesn’t hurt them on that front. Quite frankly I am hoping the Bears might hire two of their GM candidates - one for GM and one for Asst (or a 2nd asst to pair with Kelly). Use this to strengthen quality of front office as a whole. On HC front - it seems like no one will move that quickly with the candidates focused on the playoffs at this point (or at least the bulk of them). That might change but if most of the teams win (I think most of bears candidates in playoffs are favored) - that pushes real movement in coaches out basically 10 days from now when they really get involved - which gives a lot of time for Bears to handle GM search and do their remote zooms and get ducks in a row for the final push (if it isn’t Harbaugh).

Bears met with Glenn Cook today. So one GM and one Coach that are confirmed to have met with the team at this point.

Bears had initial interview with Pederson today.

Ron Wolf's son, Elliot Wolf is now on the GM list. I believe Omar Khan, who was one of the two in the running to take over in Pittsburgh (but was informed he won't get the gig) is also I think on the list. Wolf is still extremely young but spent a lot of time in Green Bay before moving to Cleveland and now spending past 2 seasons in New England (where I believe he is the Asst GM).

I like Frazier the person - but his defenses have pretty much been mediocre his entire career. I do think he would connect well with the players and likely hire very good coordinators. THan again - Lovie never really had great defenses, I think it was more his leadership traits and ability to hold people to a standard that worked in his favor to be a successful head coach for as long as he was. Heck - he probably would still be coaching if he didn't end up getting too much power (he just wasn't a great personel guy).