The Chicago Bears' search for a new general manager and head coach has entered its' second week as the team continues to conduct both searches together. One positive sign regarding each search is that Chicago will hire a general manager before hiring a head coach. This decision to hire a general manager first is vital as it will give the Bears another prominent football mind in deciding who is the best candidate to coach the team next.

The Next General Manager Needs To Be Included In The Head-Coaching Search

Since firing general manager Ryan Pace last Monday, The Bears have interviewed many prominent football executives from quality franchises.  Rick Smith, Morocco Brown, Jeff Ireland, Ed Dodds, Glenn Cook, Monti Ossenfort, Eliot Wolf, Joe Schoen, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, all have been interviewed or will be interviewed for the open position. All the candidates interviewed by the Bears have experience as team presidents, general managers, or are currently executives for teams that have made the playoffs.

Having an additional resource to assist with the head coaching hire is an added advantage given the candidates with successful backgrounds that Bears are interviewing. For example, both searches are being conducted by a team of consultants led by Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian. Imagine if Smith or Dodd was hired as general manager and brought new insight for head-coaching candidates to Polian.

The Bears are giving themselves the chance to have multiple proven football minds collaborate on which candidate would be the best next head coach for the team. Depending on who the new general manager is, the hire could align his thought-process with the ideas of Polian, who has a terrific resume of successful football decisions. The potential collaboration would also allow the general manager to be fully connected to whoever the next Bears head coach is.

Bears Need To Learn From The Mistake Of Their last General Manager Search

For continuity purposes, hiring the general manager first makes more sense than hiring the head coach first, as it avoids any potential power struggles that could ensue. If a head coach is hired first by the Bears before the general manager, the general manager may not see eye-to-eye with the head coach and look to replace the head coach after two seasons, regardless of record. Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is an example of a coach that was fired due to a power struggle with the front office and not due to a poor record. Flores has led the Dolphins to back-to-back winning seasons, including a 10-win season in 2020.

It is also significant that the Bears hire the general manager before the head coach and allow the general manager to have say over the potential head coaching hire due to what took place with Pace in 2015. When the Bears fired then general manager Phil Emery, the team hired Ernie Accorsi as a consultant to lead the search to replace Emery. Although Accorsi recommended the team hire Pace as general manager, the consultant and Team President Ted Phillips wanted to hire former Broncos head coach John Fox. The Bears' newly-hired general manager had wanted to go a different direction and was targeting Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as the new head coach for Chicago.

The Bears would eventually hire Fox as their head coach in 2015 with the decision not working out as the team would only win 14 games over the next three seasons. Quinn would be hired as head coach by the Atlanta Falcons and led them to a Super Bowl appearance in 2016. The Falcons would also make the playoffs in 2017 before being eliminated in the Divisional Round by the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Had the Bears allowed Pace to hire Quinn, the rebuild Chicago was mired in, from 2015 through 2017 could have been ended sooner. Unfortunately, Accorsi and Bears' ownership didn't fully trust their new general manager's choice for the head coaching position as it would have been more successful than the eventual hire. Not only would the Bears have had Quinn as head coach, but they most likely would have had Kyle Shanahan as the team's offensive coordinator. If Shanahan doesn't get hired by the 49ers following the 2016 season, he most likely would have been Chicago's offensive coordinator for Mitchell Trubisky in 2017.

  This is why it is vital that Bears' ownership and consultant group not only get the general manager hire correct, but once that general manager is on board, they include him when deciding on the next head coach. There could be a situation where the new GM provides insight that changes the direction of the coaching search for the better. If a situation like that takes place, which in turn results in a playoff berth or sustained success, the Bears will have been better off for including their general manager.