Chicago Bears CEO blocked top NFL coach from taking head coaching job: Report

One of the major takeaways from Monday’s press conference was that Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren is the guy in charge of the search to replace Matt Eberflus. But Warren reportedly has been the man in charge of coaching decisions at Halas Hall for a while.

General manager Ryan Poles is the point of contact for the coaching search. He’ll be fetching Starbucks and picking up candidates from the airport so they can meet with Warren and doing whatever sorts of things point-of-contact people do for CEOs that make hiring decisions for staff personnel. But Poles won’t be making big-time decisions, like trying to hire big names like Jim Harbaugh.

Jim Harbaugh wanted the Chicago Bears’ HC job in 2024

Per Chicago broadcaster Dan McNeil, Harbaugh wanted the Bears job in January. But Warren made the decision to keep the former Bears quarterback from replacing Eberflus before the 2024 season.

“BREAKING: Jim Harbaugh wanted to talk to the Bears in January, but Kevin Warren quashed it,” McNeil posted on X. “Via a long-time team employee, Harbaugh expressed interest in the HC job. The staffer told Ryan Poles, who told Warren. The president dismissed it summarily.”

BREAKING: Jim Harbaugh wanted to talk to the #Bears in January, but Kevin Warren quashed it. Via a long-time team employee, Harbaugh expressed interest in the HC job. The staffer told Ryan Poles, who told Warren. The president dismissed it summarily. #IBearWitness

— Dan McNeil (@DannyMacShow) December 5, 2024

In January, Poles denied that the Bears had an interest in Harbaugh because Chicago already had a coach, one that won 10 games in two seasons. Harbaugh would go on to take the Los Angeles Chargers job. Despite losing key players like Keenan Allen and Mike Williams in the offseason due to cap issues, the Chargers are 8-4 and in the AFC playoff hunt in Harbaugh’s first season in Los Angeles.

Kevin Warren reportedly doesn’t like Harbaugh

NFL insider Jordan Schultz claimed last December that Warren and Harbaugh don’t like each other. Harbaugh was a renegade coach at Michigan who didn’t care much for rules and the bureaucracies of the NCAA and Big Ten conference. (If Warren doesn’t like winners with idiosyncratic personalities, then the Bears can cross Bill Belichick off their Christmas list.) Warren served as the commissioner for the Big Ten from 2020-2023, overlapping with Harbaugh’s tenure with the Wolverines.

If McNeil’s report is true, it looks like the CEO will make more decisions in the hiring process this winter. Hopefully, his subordinate, Poles, can get everyone’s DoorDash order correct for Warren’s interviews with head coaching prospects.

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