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The Chicago Bears are in the market for a head coach after firing Matt Eberflus. General manager Ryan Poles revealed to wide receiver DJ Moore what quality he'll be looking for during the hiring process.
“He just basically told me what had already got out in the media before he called me, but he was just like, ‘We’re going to get this thing turned around – a leader of men is going to be in here for the next coach,’” Moore said of Poles' message on 670 The Score.
The GM's emphasis on leadership qualities is unsurprising after the fallout from Chicago's Thanksgiving debacle.
Ryan Poles leading Bears' search for new head coach
It was clear that Eberflus had lost the Bears' locker room after his late-game mismanagement cost them a game in Detroit. When the coach started to address the team postgame, Pro-Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson cut him off and began speaking with “colorful language” for 10-15 minutes. It was the last Eberflus spoke to the players, according to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer.
Johnson revealed on Tuesday what led him to voice his frustrations with the team's coaching.
“At the end of the day, there was frustration. There were words from myself that I expressed just from my frustration of losing,” he said. “Part of what I said after the game is I’ve been losing for five years. So, I mean, I feel like a high-level player like myself, after a certain point, losing games how we’ve been losing games, someone has to express something. It was one of those situations where it just got to that point where you don’t remember everything that was said.”
“It was just based around frustrations of losing… That’s what triggered it. Just some certain things and seeing the way things had went these last few weeks. From the outside looking in, you can say it’s the last few weeks. For me, it’s the last five years of my damn career.”
The Bears' firing of Eberflus comes less than one season into starting quarterback Caleb Williams' first NFL season. Chicago has struggled to get its offense off the ground with the rookie under center, ranking 25th in yards per game (300.7) and 22nd in points per game (20.1).
Williams ranks 26th in QBR (47.1) among the league's starting quarterbacks and 28th in EPA per dropback (-0.01) among 43 quarterbacks with at least 50 pass attempts this season, according to nfelo.com. Chicago will now look for a new coach and offensive coordinator to mold the No. 1 pick.
Poles and president Kevin Warren will conduct “a wide-ranging search,” according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The top candidates for the job are expected to include Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury– Williams' former quarterbacks coach at USC.
