Kevin Warren to be named Bears new CEO

[Burl]

So if Poles wants a guy, can Warren say "NO" ?

[The Cooler King]

So if Poles wants a guy, can Warren say "NO" ?

I don't think so.

If there is a player Poles is not allowed to acquire, I would turn it around and say it's Warren's job to make Poles aware of that. Let's just take the Deshaun Watson scenario. If McCaskeys/Warren felt a situation like that was one that Bears did not want to be associated with, they have to direct that.

In the depths of FA and the draft, Poles should not be needing to 'clear moves'.

Rubber stamping final decisions isn't a real job basically and I wouldn't expect Warren to engage in a fake job.

[The Cooler King]

I mean theres so many guys and agents to talk to and so many moving parts. I'm sure Poles himself ends up being a bottleneck to that process. Imagine him having to introduce another bottleneck because what? Warren thought that LT wasn't worth 20M? It's not in any way in his job description to make that evaluation and I wouldn't trust him to be in that level of the details to make a call like that.

[Grizzled]

No way is Poles going to have carte blanche to offer megasalaries without running it past his boss and the guy who signs the paychecks.

[The Cooler King]

No way is Poles going to have carte blanche to offer megasalaries without running it past his boss and the guy who signs the paychecks.

Way, IMO.

[wab]

No way is Poles going to have carte blanche to offer megasalaries without running it past his boss and the guy who signs the paychecks.

Yes way.

[Moriarty]

I'm with the majority here -

I'd be surprised and unhappy if he had to run anything past Warren beyond "hey, I know this guy has had some serious character issues, but..." type scenarios.

Now, if and when he were in a Ryan Pace 2021 type situation - then I would be surprised and unhappy if Warren didn't require all huge deals get his ok first.

But not at this stage.

[The Cooler King]

I'm with the majority here -

I'd be surprised and unhappy if he had to run anything past Warren beyond "hey, I know this guy has had some serious character issues, but..." type scenarios.

Now, if and when he were in a Ryan Pace 2021 type situation - then I would be surprised and unhappy if Warren didn't require all huge deals get his ok first.

But not at this stage.

Honestly I wouldn't even see the point of continuing on in a 'Ryan Pace 2021' situation if you don't have trust in your GM. A sensible CEO would just move on.

Both jobs are too big to micromanage one and do the other. If Warren can't trust Poles he'll find someone else and not micromanage. I think it's as simple as that.

[The Marshall Plan]

What experience does Kevin Warren have in building a football team?

My understanding, and I could be wrong, is virtually nothing.

He’s a lawyer by trade right? Then he became a football executive?

He’s not a scout or evaluator of player talent.

He’s Poles’ boss so I think for formality sake yeah Poles should present a strategy and be evaluated based upon his execution thereof.

But otherwise I think if Warren is expected to be hovering over Poles’ shoulder on draft day we’re going to have problems.

Warren has a full time job and then some with AH and just the general skullduggery of running the ops side of a football team. He can’t sit there and argue with Poles about Carter vs Murphy.

[Moriarty]

I'm with the majority here -

I'd be surprised and unhappy if he had to run anything past Warren beyond "hey, I know this guy has had some serious character issues, but..." type scenarios.

Now, if and when he were in a Ryan Pace 2021 type situation - then I would be surprised and unhappy if Warren didn't require all huge deals get his ok first.

But not at this stage.

Honestly I wouldn't even see the point of continuing on in a 'Ryan Pace 2021' situation if you don't have trust in your GM. A sensible CEO would just move on.

Both jobs are too big to micromanage one and do the other. If Warren can't trust Poles he'll find someone else and not micromanage. I think it's as simple as that.

You can definitely make a case for "just move on at that point" for other reasons.

I don't think the micromanaging time consumption angle is such a big issue, though. I'm talking about just 1 meeting of "We're going to let you have 1 more year to make something happen, but - because it could be your last year here, we are going to need to have oversight on any big/long contracts or any trades for future picks that could hamstring the team after you're gone." (and you probably have to have that meeting anyway, with or without the second part). Then a couple times in that offseason, you might have a couple short conversations along the lines of "Hmmm. You want to offer 4 R1s, Kmet, & Mooney for Russell Wilson? That's going to have to be a no."


Somebody has to oversee and evaluate and hire/fire GMs. That's part of Warren's job. And a very limited, rare amount of laying down constraints goes with that, IMO.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

What experience does Kevin Warren have in building a football team?

My understanding, and I could be wrong, is virtually nothing.

He’s a lawyer by trade right? Then he became a football executive?

He’s not a scout or evaluator of player talent.

He’s Poles’ boss so I think for formality sake yeah Poles should present a strategy and be evaluated based upon his execution thereof.

But otherwise I think if Warren is expected to be hovering over Poles’ shoulder on draft day we’re going to have problems.

Warren has a full time job and then some with AH and just the general skullduggery of running the ops side of a football team. He can’t sit there and argue with Poles about Carter vs Murphy.

Agreed, if Warren is going to out-rank Poles on football decisions - he’s the wrong man for the job.

I don’t think he will. He strikes me as highly intelligent which means he won’t step outside his area of expertise.

Everyone has to have a “boss”. It doesn’t mean he will veto Poles decisions, it’s just different levels of accountability.

I’ve always believed a good boss hires the right people and lets them get on with the job.
Micromanagement doesn’t usually promote excellence

[artbest01]

My guess is that Poles' contract includes language giving him full roster control. I suppose Warren could say "if you sign X player, you're fired!" - but I highly doubt he'd do that

[MACKSMACK]

He was the agent for Chris Zorich when he was with us. He has a ton of experience as an executive in the NFL, so at least he isn't a damn accountant like TP.

Here's an interview where he talks about our new CEO. I'm sold!!

[cblaz11]

I think ...

• George is given Awareness, versus seeking Permission

• KW provides Permission

Maybe it's a matter of sharing the plan with someone else who is in a position to provide feedback and/or support.

Greg Gabriel spoke about situations like this when he was with the Bears. Basically, if they were getting ready to sign someone that put the team over budget, he would have to go to the higher ups for approval. It’s important to note, he did this often, and was NEVER told no.

[The Cooler King]

Maybe it's a matter of sharing the plan with someone else who is in a position to provide feedback and/or support.

Greg Gabriel spoke about situations like this when he was with the Bears. Basically, if they were getting ready to sign someone that put the team over budget, he would have to go to the higher ups for approval. It’s important to note, he did this often, and was NEVER told no.

Beyond "never being told no" part, I think theres two other important points.

"that put the team over budget" - its of course reasonable to expect Poles will be given a working budget under which he has total freedom to operate. Going over budget is of course an exception and you gotta make sure the check won't bounce.

Gabriel was fired in 2010, which was either still under the Michael McCaskey reign or right after George took over. In many areas the Bears have been way more cash agressive since 2010 after George took over. I'd venture to guess artificially low budget limits have been greatly raised in that time, as they should be.

[UOK]

Nothing against Greg Gabriel, but I don't think there's much to be used as a comparison between his tenure with the team and the current Warren/Poles/Flus regime. It's good to use his anecdotes as a basis for an argument, but if Gabriel were to drunk-tweet a tirade today about how he KNOWS how the Bears do things, I'd have to take it with a grain of salt the size of a Ford F150.

[Shadow]

Warren gave an interview with Adam Hoge. It was pretty interesting and he came off as a very open, honest person who really likes this new job.

[The Marshall Plan]

Warren gave an interview with Adam Hoge. It was pretty interesting and he came off as a very open, honest person who really likes this new job.

I saw that too. Yeah he did a good job.

[The Cooler King]

Article or podcast?

[AZ_Bearfan]

[Burl]

Awesome thanks for posting.
I really like the guy. Only way it might’ve been better is if he reached over and strangled Hoge, but you can’t have it all.

[The Cooler King]

Awesome thanks for posting.
I really like the guy. Only way it might’ve been better is if he reached over and strangled Hoge, but you can’t have it all.

Kruetz is not the new club President

[dplank]

I like this guy, seems genuine

[Middleguard]

He made it sound as if he'd like to be a part of player evaluation, at least in the near term. Why else mention several times that he watched every Big-10 game while he was commissioner?

[dplank]

He made it sound as if he'd like to be a part of player evaluation, at least in the near term. Why else mention several times that he watched every Big-10 game while he was commissioner?

Even the Maryland and Rutgers games? Brutal lol.

[karhu]

He made it sound as if he'd like to be a part of player evaluation, at least in the near term. Why else mention several times that he watched every Big-10 game while he was commissioner?

I wonder if it's quite that pointed. The guy knows the Bears and their local reputation, and pointing out that he's an avid fan of the game distinguishes him quite a bit from his predecessor. If he had an angle at all there, that could be it.

There's one big functional advantage, though, to taking that kind of interest in the game. Say Poles trades down with Indy and gets their second-rounder, then trades it for DeAndre Hopkins or Mike Evans. From Warren's perspective, that move looks totally different depending on what Poles tells him in January when Warren asks him about his offseason strategy.

1. "We need to get Fields more weapons. Did what we could last year, but there wasn't much of a market. Right now, we need a focal point on the outside, someone other than Kmet. That'd open things up for Fields, and the right guy would complement Mooney. Just as importantly, we need a real leader in the WR corps. We've got nice guys and professionals, but we need someone who can look everyone in the eye--including Fields--and demand more than we've produced so far."

Fair enough. Whatever you think of that statement, it's consistent with what Poles did later. Warren's opportunity to object or modulate Poles's strategy was back in January; at this point, he's being an exemplary professional, and his job should be safe.

2. "We need to shore up the lines. The offensive line was erratic, and overall it was the girl with the curl. We've got to play consistently at the highest levels we reached in 2022, and that's going to mean growth by Jones, a long-term solution at LG (which we don't have right now), stability at center (ditto), sustained health for Jenkins or a new RG, and a long-term starter at RT. The defensive line, believe it or not, is worse. Justin Jones is the only guy we need to keep, and I'm not reserving a starting spot for him."

This makes far more sense to me than strategy #1 (not that I don't like that tack as well), but the sheer inconsistency of Poles's *tactics* would be enough to shake any budding confidence he might have earned from Warren.

Now, Poles could've turned to Ted or George and said "Yeah, I had to switch gears. There just weren't any linemen there who fit what Eberflus wants to do, so I had to scramble." They'd have a hard time calling bullshit on that. I suspect that something roughly similar has happened many, many times over the years with those guys and with Mikey before them. Warren, though, sounds like he'd be able to see through it and respond accordingly.

Not suggesting that Poles is anything like that, just saying that it's an important part of Warren's responsibilities, even if he never becomes a Jim Irsay-level noodge.

[Grizzled]

Good breakdown in the Chicago Suntimes on how a previous outside hire, Jim Finks, revitalized the Bears in the '70s. The link is at the end of this post, here's a synopsis.

In 1974, the Bears were in a deep funk. Six consecutive bad seasons capped by the infamous 1969 1-13 season, still the worst in team history. They lost the coin flip with the Steelers for the rights to draft Terry Bradshaw and then traded the #2 pick to the Pack for a bag of magic beans which weren't so magic.

Papa Bear, at the request of team president George 'Mugs' Halas Jr. hired Jim Finks, the architect of the great Minnesota Viking teams, as GM. This was the first time the Bears had hired from outside the organization.

Finks favored building a stadium im Arlington Heights, he wasn't a fan of Soldier Field. He moved the Bears’ downtown offices and their training camp from Rensselaer, Indiana, to Lake Forest. He arranged to have a dedicated practice facility built. He fired the entire coaching staff, revamped the scouting department, and identified a relatively unknown Jackson State running back Walter Payton as the best player in the 1975 draft, taking him fourth overall. Two years later, he changed the Bears’ radio outlet from WGN to WBBM, who had carried the team for 24 years. The Bears made the playoffs in 1977 for the first time in 13 years and again in 1979. He built most of the roster for the 1985 Super Bowl team except for hiring Ditka. This was done by Papa Bear over Fink's objections and led to his leaving the team in 1983.

Ditka was fired by the McCaskeys in 1992, pretty much ending the Halas era at Halas Hall. Since then:

• The Bears’ 220 victories rank 21st among 29 teams that have been in the league in that 30-year span. Their .457 winning percentage is 22nd.

• Their nine winning seasons are tied for 22nd. Only five teams have fewer.

• Their seven playoff appearances are tied for 26th. Only three teams have fewer.

• Their four playoff victories are tied for 26th. Only one team that has been in the NFL through that entire 30-year span has fewer (Washington).

• The Bears have made back-to-back playoff appearances just once in the last 30 years (2005-06). Every team that has been in the league in that span has had a streak of three or more playoff appearances except Washington, the Jets and the Cardinals.

• The Bears’ one Super Bowl appearance in that span is tied for 18th. Only eight teams have fewer. And their zero Super Bowl victories are tied for last. Fifteen teams have won the Super Bowl in the McCaskeys’ 30 years in charge.

The Bears’ best run of postseason appearances in the last 30 years — three times in six seasons from 2005 to ’10 under GM Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith — would be the Packers’ worst run of postseason appearances in the last 30 years.

So, while we all think Kevin Warren was hired to bring home the new stadium, he also feels charged up to build a winning team. And he's the type of guy who will do what he thinks it takes to do this.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2023 ... halas-hall

Edit: the Bears are only of only 4 teams in the past almost 30 years to have back-to-back winning records qonce, in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Carolina, Vegas, and the Browns are the other teams.

[IotaNet]

Great article and great post. This is exactly what I was thinking when the news first started swirling that Warren might get the job. His hire is a swing for the fences.

Now hear this however: Warren has a big personality, strong views, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I GUARANTEE that he is going to make some moves that will be highly divisive - both in Chicago and on this board. He has zero effs to give about what people think and he WILL alienate some folks.

I think he will be highly successful in the role, but it will not be all sunshine, puppies, and rainbows.

[Burl]

I wish "I watch a ton of football" could be counted as a positive attribute in my line of work.

[UOK]

I wish "I watch a ton of football" could be counted as a positive attribute in my line of work.

"I see you watch a lot of football, but you understand that this is an accounting firm, yes?"

BURL: Of course, absolutely

"And you have no formal background in anything involving accounting, finance, mathematics, etc?"

BURL: Not a fuckin clue, but I did watch 8 hours of NFL football last week

"How does the title of CEO sound?"