California dreaming to lake effect legacy: 2024-2025 Chicago Bears 🐻 season thread

[Deafheaven]

That’s subjective but all im saying is mike shouldn’t be the first or second option, i really want to say he should be a borderline last option

McCarthy averages like 10 wins a season and he would be your last option. Respectfully what are going off of here. I need tangible reasons why he is one of the worst choices for the bears

 

[prime]

McCarthy averages like 10 wins a season and he would be your last option. Respectfully what are going off of here. I need tangible reasons why he is one of the worst choices for the bears

Breh is not going to give you a direct answer he was doing the same thing when we was discussing fields vs Caleb last season

 

[jwinfield]

Some reason the tweet isn't loading.

Are NFL teams letting agents impact coach hiring? Why the league cares

The struggling Bears are among the teams with a pattern of hiring people with the same agent. The NFL has concerns about the implications.

www.espn.com

Whatever the timing, Eberflus' firing followed a trend of failed Bears coaches. But his 2022 hiring was part of another pattern, too, one that both the Bears' fan base and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have now clocked -- with concern.

Since 2018, agent and ex-Chicago defensive end Trace Armstrong and his agency, Athletes First, have represented two fired Bears head coaches, Matt Nagy and Eberflus; three fired offensive coordinators, Mark Helfrich, Luke Getsy and Shane Waldron; as well as current general manager Ryan Poles.

"I've never seen one agent have so much influence on one team and had so little success, but they keep going back and taking his guys," said one coaching agent, who requested anonymity to speak freely on the topic. "And we all kind of shake our heads like, have they not figured this out yet?"

"Armstrong has had more influence with the Bears than any other team," a coaching agent said. "That's because he was dealing with an accountant that really didn't know football people, and he took advantage of that, and I give him credit for that."

In 1989, when Armstrong was drafted by the Bears out of the University of Florida with the 12th overall pick, Phillips was in his third season negotiating player contracts, and Armstrong's rookie holdout was one of the early disputes Phillips resolved.

The Bears team website reported that Poles and Eberflus first met on the golf course at an event in 2020 (described as an "NFL growth and development summit," though the NFL office confirmed the league did not hold such an event in 2020, meaning it was likely an agency summit), and Poles has said his intuition told him Eberflus was the right hire.

At Poles and Eberflus' introductory news conference in January 2022, a reporter asked if sharing the same agent had anything to do with them knowing each other prior or throughout the hiring process. Eberflus turned to Poles, and Poles paused before answering. "I mean, I'm sure in terms of just getting a hold of each other and in contact with each other, that plays a part."

"Yeah, it was an easy transition, or easier, I should say," Eberflus added.

About a year before Eberflus got the Bears job, he met Getsy, who was Green Bay's quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, also at an Athletes First summit. The two never made any official agreement or pact to work together, but they talked about their football philosophies and kept in touch, according to a source who was present.

When Eberflus got his chance to hire his own staff, he chose Getsy, also an Armstrong client. Just like Poles and Eberflus, the two had never worked together. Eberflus did not return calls for this story. Getsy declined to comment, and the Bears declined to make Poles available.

One former NFL general manager said that when he interviewed coaches for jobs, he'd ask them to explain why they wanted to hire each coach on their dream staff list. Sometimes, the coach's answer to the question was simply a shared agent.

"It was a little bit of a red flag," the former general manager said. "Is his agent putting his staff together, or is he putting his staff together?

"[Arranging your coach's staff is] a way to absolutely bury your coach," one coaching agent said. "This [Chicago situation] is proof positive of it. ... Believe me, we're not in the building every day. We don't know, really, how good or bad our guys really are. They all talk a good game, but we don't know."

Armstrong told the "All 4 Gators" podcast that as of November 2023, Athletes First represented about 300 NFL players and "quite a few" NFL head coaches, general managers and NCAA head coaches.

"Still connected to the game, still helping the players out," one of the hosts said.

"As I say," Armstrong said on the podcast. "We're all robbing the same train."

Still, the perception of Armstrong's influence on Poles and the extent of Warren's control over Poles, as well as Poles' own job security (he declined to comment about his contract situation when asked in his January news conference) means head coaching candidates who have options, such as Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, are going to have questions about this job.

On the Tuesday following the regular season, Poles said the Bears' hiring committee includes McCaskey; Warren; director of football administration Matt Feinstein; senior director of player personnel Jeff King; executive vice president of people and culture and chief HR officer Liz Geist; and several business-side executives he did not mention by name. ESPN later reported that chief administrative officer Ted Crews will be part of the process, as will assistant general manager Ian Cunningham as he seeks general manager opportunities.

When asked if he would be using any "outside help," Poles said: "Background yes, just to do some background work."

He did not say who the outside help would be, and when McCaskey was asked specifically about that he said, "Whatever Ryan picks, that's entirely up to him."

Among the candidates with whom the Bears requested interviews was Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who has won praise for his work in Buffalo and has a longstanding connection to Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. He's represented by Armstrong.

 

[prime]

 

[jerniebert]

I'm seeing that Mike McCarthy used to be represented by Trace Armstrong.

 

[Brozay]

Some reason the tweet isn't loading.

Are NFL teams letting agents impact coach hiring? Why the league cares

The struggling Bears are among the teams with a pattern of hiring people with the same agent. The NFL has concerns about the implications.

www.espn.com

 

[prime]

We can talk shyt about Kevin Warren when it comes to the stadium not getting done yet but I guarantee you if he wasn't the president trace Armstrong would've been involved with this coaching search and one of his clients would've been the head coach

 

[Rice N Beans]

We can talk shyt about Kevin Warren when it comes to the stadium not getting done yet but I guarantee you if he wasn't the president trace Armstrong would've been involved with this coaching search and one of his clients would've been the head coach

I'm feeling it the same way. You know Warren told Poles to stop fukking around. Do you want to hire off your friend's list and surround yourself with buddies or so you want to win and be successful?

Then Poles was up there pouting.

Dude has a problem with responsibility or being held accountable.

 

[jerniebert]

damn

 

[Rice N Beans]

damn

Works out if he was Poles' lightning rod. That post came out about Poles overriding both Warren and Cunningham to keep Eberflus. Cunningham telling Poles to wait for Odunze instead of trading up. Seems like a level headed dude.

 

[prime]

Yeah MM is definitely the next head coach they want someone with experience

 

[So-Chi]

Yeah MM is definitely the next head coach they want someone with experience

Ehh they are interviewing everyone. I still think Ben

 

[god shamgod]

 

[nefarious]

Ben's offense doing lots of dumb stuff so I'd say we found our man!!

 

[prime]

If dumb azz Ryan poles fix both the D line
and o line the bears can win the division easily yall can call me a Caleb dikk rider but I believe he is the best QB in the division can you imagine Jordan love or Jared Goff on the 2024 bears