George McCaskey and the Bears believe this time will be different. Bears fans have every right to be skeptical

LAKE FOREST – Since George McCaskey took over as Chicago Bears chairman in 2011, the team has tried several times to find the right head coach.

The Bears hired a supposed offensive guru out of left field (otherwise known as Canada) in Marc Trestman. They hired a tried and true head coach with previous experience in John Fox. They hired the offensive coordinator of a top-five NFL offense in Matt Nagy. They hired a defensive guru in Matt Eberflus.

The organization fired all of them. None lasted more than four years.

Since the team fired Lovie Smith on Dec. 31, 2012, after a 10-6 season, the Bears have not found an answer at head coach. They have not won a playoff game, either. They are tied with the Jets for the fourth-longest current drought without a playoff win (only the Dolphins, Raiders and Commanders have longer droughts).

So Bears fans can be forgiven if they don’t believe a word coming out of Halas Hall. And there were plenty of words said Tuesday.

General manager Ryan Poles spoke for 26 minutes in the media center. Afterward, McCaskey and team president Kevin Warren both spoke briefly.

What will make this hiring process different from any of the last four, all of which ultimately proved to be failures?

“Ryan has the benefit of his experience,” McCaskey said. “And he has the benefit of the guidance from Kevin, who has been through this process before. So we’re hoping for a better result.”

Here’s to hoping.

The McCaskeys have put all their chips in this basket. The Bears put their faith behind Poles in January 2022, when they hired him as a 36-year-old first-time general manager. They have remained fully behind him, despite the hits and misses that every GM goes through. They hired Warren to run the organization a year later, making the franchise’s first outside hire for team president.

Ownership believes fully in Warren and Poles. The sole difference between this coach search and the last one is as simple as that: the leaders in charge.

“Ryan has the benefit of his experience. And he has the benefit of the guidance from Kevin, who has been through this process before. So we’re hoping for a better result.”

—  George McCaskey, Bears chairman

Warren promised an “exhaustive” coaching search when he previously spoke in the aftermath of the team firing Eberflus. The Bears already have requested interviews with a dozen coaching candidates.

Warren promised that he and Poles would work “in tandem” to find the right coach. On Tuesday, Bears fans learned there would be several more voices in the room.

Poles noted that the team will have a panel interviewing candidates. That panel will include Poles, Warren, McCaskey, director of football administration Matt Feinstein, senior director of player personnel Jeff King and chief HR officer Liz Geist. Assistant general manager Ian Cunningham will join when he’s available (Cunningham is widely expected to be busy interviewing for GM jobs across the league this month).

That sounds an awful lot like the panel the Bears used during their last coaching search, which led them to Eberflus. Bears fans were led to believe that hiring Warren would mean McCaskey – who famously says he’s a fan, not a football evaluator – could recuse himself from monumental football decisions.

“Kevin and I talk about it all the time, just the continuity between football and business,” Poles said. “That’s one thing we take a lot of pride on here. So it’s important, when we get to the right phase, that they’re involved as well and become familiar with our staff.”

Warren said he likes “the collaborative nature” of involving leaders from his entire organization.

“All of these interviews are, they go both ways,” Warren said. “It’s not only us interviewing the candidates, but it’s the candidates interviewing us, and I want to make sure – I know Ryan wants to make sure – that we provide all the opportunities for candidates to ask questions.”

Ultimately, a decision rests on Poles' shoulders.

“I’ll end up selecting the coach,” Poles confirmed Tuesday.

But the mere existence of the panel suggests that Warren, McCaskey and everyone on that panel will have an opportunity to voice opinions. It’s unclear when exactly during the process that panel will be involved. Poles suggested it might be as the field narrows.

Asked about how the organization can guard against making the same hiring mistakes it has made in the past, Warren said this: “There’s nothing to guard against. I would twist it a little bit and I would say there’s standards that we have to set. It becomes very simple. The way I look at my life it becomes very simple. Either you’re above the line or below the line.”

He continued: “It’s not about the person. It’s about the standard. And I think once we set that standard and the process, which we have done, it will become clear who are the candidates that meet that standard.”

In both his public appearances since the team fired Eberflus, Warren has been adamant that the right coach “will become clear” throughout the process. He stressed the importance of going into the hiring process with an open mind, throwing out any preconceived notions of what the head coach should be.

“This decision, our head football coach, will impact the trajectory of this franchise for the next 10, 15, 20 years,” Warren said. “We have to get this right, and I’m confident that we will.”

The Bears were confident last time, too. And the time before that. And the time before that. And the time before that.

Warren might be new here, but Bears fans aren’t. They’ve seen it all before.

“There takes a certain kind of person, and I say this lovingly with all respect,” Warren said. “This is a phenomenal franchise. It’s a historical franchise in an incredible city. But our fan base is – because they’re so passionate, you have to be sturdy, you have to be disciplined. You have to be strong here in Chicago. You have to basically emulate what Chicago stands for."

Other than a blip in 2018, the Bears haven’t done that since the Lovie Smith era. None of the past four coaches were cut out for it.

Warren and Poles aren’t just hiring a coach. They’re trying to reverse nearly 15 years of history.