Bears candidate tracker: Catch up on the latest GM, head coach candidates
The Bears have interviewed or requested to speak with two dozen candidates for head coach and general manager.
The interview panel is led by Chairman George McCaskey and includes team president and CEO Ted Phillips, former NFL general manager Bill Polian, director of player engagement LaMar "Soup" Campbell and senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Tanesha Wade.
Here's what we know so far about the candidates.
General manager
Confirmed by the Bears to have interviewed:
Cleveland vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook (Jan. 12).
Cleveland vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Jan. 13).
Bears assistant director of player personnel Anthony "Champ" Kelly (Jan. 13).
New Orleans assistant general manager Jeff Ireland (Jan. 14).
Tennessee director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort (Jan. 15).
Buffalo assistant general manager Joe Schoen (Jan. 16).
Indianapolis assistant general manager Ed Dodds (Jan. 17).
Reportedly requested for an interview:
Indianapolis director of college scouting Morocco Brown, according to NFL Network.
San Francisco director of player personnel Ran Carthon, per Sports Illustrated.
Pittsburgh vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan, per ESPN.
Miami senior personnel executive Reggie McKenzie, per Sports Illustrated.
Kansas City executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles, per ESPN.
New England front office consultant Eliot Wolf, per ESPN.
L.A. Chargers director of player personnel JoJo Wooden, per NFL Network.
Get to know the candidates
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is a Princeton graduate who previously worked on Wall Street and took his first NFL job in 2013 with the 49ers. He became the director of football research and development in San Francisco before becoming the vice president of football operations in Cleveland in 2020.
Morocco Brown has a background in scouting. The Colts have received rave reviews in recent drafts, and Brown oversees the team's college scouting. He has worked in Indianapolis five years, and previously worked in Cleveland and Washington. He spent seven years with the Bears from 2001-07 as assistant director of pro personnel.
San Francisco director of player personnel Ran Carthon, 40, has been in his current position since 2017. He previously worked as a scout for the Falcons and as the director of player personnel for the Rams. He played in the NFL for parts of three seasons from 2004-06.
Vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook has worked for the Browns since 2016 and took on his current role in 2020. He previously worked for Green Bay. Cook played college football at Miami from 2004-08.
Indianapolis assistant general manager Ed Dodds has been with the Colts since 2017 as general manager Chris Ballard's right-hand man. Prior to the Colts, he worked for Seattle from 2007-16. He helped engineer a turnaround in Indianapolis.
New Orleans Saints assistant general manager Jeff Ireland, 51, has a background as a scout and served as Miami's general manager from 2008-13. In six seasons, his Dolphins teams went 46-50 with one playoff appearance. He worked briefly as a consultant with Seattle in 2014 before taking his current job in New Orleans. He was once a ball boy for the Bears.
Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly has been in his current role two seasons after serving as the team's director of pro scouting for two seasons prior to that. Kelly helped in both the pro personnel and college scouting departments. He previously worked in the Broncos front office from 2008-14. He worked at IBM for several years before taking his first job in the NFL.
Omar Khan has been the Steelers' No. 2 behind GM Kevin Colbert since 2016. He has worked for the Steelers since 2001 and has worked in the NFL since 1997.
Current Dolphins senior personnel executive Reggie McKenzie was the GM for the Raiders from 2012-18. He worked in the Packers' front office from 1994 to 2011, helping the organization win two Super Bowls. McKenzie was the 2016 NFL executive of the year. He played for the Raiders and Cardinals in the '80s.
Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort has been in his current position two seasons and has 21 years of NFL experience. He spent 17 seasons in New England and worked his way up to director of college scouting. He helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls.
Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles has worked in Kansas City for nearly 13 years. He began as a scout in 2009 and worked his way up to his current position in June 2021. Along the way, he served as the director of college scouting - including in 2017 when the Chiefs drafted quarterback Patrick Mahomes - and the assistant director of player personnel.
Assistant general manager Joe Schoen has been in Buffalo since 2017. He previously worked for Bills GM Brandon Beane in Carolina for seven years, originally starting as an intern while still in college. In between stints under Beane, Schoen spent nine years with Miami, including as player personnel director.
Eliot Wolf is the 39-year-old son of former Packers general manager Ron Wolf. He has worked in the NFL since 2004 and spent more than a decade in various roles in Green Bay. Eliot Wolf was the assistant GM in Cleveland in 2018-19 before joining the Patriots as a consultant in 2020.
Chargers director of player personnel JoJo Wooden joined the organization in 2013. He oversees the pro and college scouting departments. He worked for the New York Jets from 1997 until 2012. His background is in scouting.
Head coach
Confirmed by the Bears to have interviewed:
Former Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson (Jan. 12).
Former Miami head coach Brian Flores (Jan. 14).
Former Indianapolis and Detroit head coach Jim Caldwell (Jan. 15).
Green Bay offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (Jan. 15).
Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll (Jan. 16).
Indianapolis defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus (Jan. 17).
Reportedly requested for an interview:
The Bears have not confirmed these individuals, but they will interview, according to national reports:
Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, per ESPN.
Buffalo defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, per ESPN.
Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, per ESPN.
Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, per the NFL Network.
Get to know the candidates
Todd Bowles, 58, is a former head coach. He was 24-40 as head coach of the Jets for four seasons from 2015-18. A 10-6 finish in 2015 was the Jets' last winning season. Bowles joined Arians' staff in 2019 in Tampa Bay. The Bucs had one of the NFL's best defenses in 2020 when they won Super Bowl LV.
Polian promoted Jim Caldwell to Colts head coach in 2009 after Tony Dungy retired. The Colts went to the Super Bowl in Caldwell's first season. Following a disastrous 2-14 season in 2011, when Peyton Manning missed the entire year with a neck injury, the Colts let both Polian and Caldwell go. Caldwell was head coach in 2014 with Detroit. He had three winning seasons in four years and two playoff appearances. Caldwell is 62-50 as a head coach, and 2-4 in the playoffs.
Brian Daboll, 46, has never been a head coach but has won six championships as an assistant - five Super Bowls with the Patriots and a national championship with Alabama. He has been the Bills' offensive coordinator since 2018 and has been instrumental in bringing quarterback Josh Allen along from his rookie season until now.
Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, 51, has been the defensive coordinator in Indianapolis since 2018. He worked for Dallas from 2009-17 as linebackers coach. Eberflus has 13 years of NFL coaching experience. He was a college coach for 17 years.
Miami fired Brian Flores in a surprise move on Black Monday. Flores, 40, won four Super Bowls in various roles in New England. As a head coach, he went 24-25 over the past three seasons in Miami.
Leslie Frazier, 62, was a cornerback on the Bears' Super Bowl XX-winning team in 1985 and played for the team for six seasons. He served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2010-13, amassing a 21-32-1 regular season record with one playoff appearance. Since then, he has coached for the Bucs, Ravens and Bills.
Green Bay offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, 42, has been an offensive coordinator for three different teams over the past decade. He joined Packers head coach Matt LaFleur in 2019. His 2020 offense ranked No. 1 in scoring. They were the third team in NFL history with more than 500 points scored and 11 or fewer turnovers. The Packers have won three straight NFC North Division titles.
Byron Leftwich, 41, is a former first-round draft pick who started 50 games as a quarterback in the NFL. He has coached under Bucs head coach Bruce Arians since 2017 in Arizona and Tampa Bay. He has been the Bucs' offensive coordinator since 2019.
Doug Pederson took off the 2021 season after being fired by the Eagles. He was 42-37-1 as the Eagles head coach from 2016-20, with three playoff appearances and a Super Bowl LII championship.
Dan Quinn, 51, was 43-42 as Atlanta head coach from 2015-20. He led Atlanta to Super Bowl LI, where his team held a 28-3 lead before collapsing against the Patriots. The Cowboys had one of the best defensive resurgences this season after ranking among the worst in 2020. Quinn was also the defensive coordinator in Seattle when the Seahawks went to back-to-back Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014.