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“We need someone with extremely high standards,” Warren said, “who is tough, who is demanding, who is smart, who has attention to detail, who will pursue and win championships, who will create an environment of accountability, who is. “Creative, who is intelligent, who is a key decision maker and who will represent the city of Chicago, all of our fans, this franchise in a way that it deserves.”
“It starts with a foundation and making sure we figure out what we want to accomplish here and help us win championships,” Poles said. “And then we cast a wide net and take as much time as necessary to find the best candidate.”
Whoever that candidate is, they need to be able to get the most out of Williams, who is the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft.
“We’ve seen his growth in some of the situations we’ve had so far,” Poles said. “We always have to keep that in mind and, again, we will make sure we get back to what is best for the Bears. His development is vital, so we need to ensure there is alignment in this area so he can continue to get better.”
Warren believes there will be no shortage of qualified candidates looking to work for the Bears, given the organization's passionate fan base, rich tradition and talented young roster. The team also has plenty of salary cap space and draft capital to upgrade its roster in the offseason.
“This will be the most coveted job in the National Football League this year,” Warren said.
The importance of hiring a new permanent head coach is not lost on the Bears' president and CEO.
“They hate to say that decisions will determine the trajectory of the franchise over the next 10 to 15 to 20 years.” [but] This is one that will do that,” Warren said. “It is critical that we devote all of our energy to ensuring we exhaust this search.” [and] Find the right person here.
Even though the Bears will conduct this comprehensive search, their season is far from over.
“We’re going to find that person who can run our franchise,” Warren said. “But we have to remember that we still have five regular season games left, one this weekend in San Francisco. We're going to do everything we can from ownership to Ryan to myself to the coaches to the staff.” To our players: We support all of our coaches and especially Coach Brown so that we can play at the highest level.
“I am confident, I am full of energy, I am excited about this unique opportunity. We'll get through it and at some point in the future we'll sit up here to look back on this day and say, “This was the day we really started moving in the right direction to build the franchise that we're talking about everyone knows we want to build it.”
