New Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles has same agent as top coaching candidate

Tuesday, the Chicago Bears made it official. After chairman George McCaskey picked him up from the airport, he and his team wouldn’t let Ryan Poles leave Chicago until he became the team’s new general manager.

Poles comes to the Bears after a 12-year stint with the Kansas City Chiefs and a background in both scouting and player personnel. His most recent title in Kansas City was Executive Director of Player Personnel.

The biggest home run for Poles, while in Kansas City, was being the Director of College Scouting when the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes in 2017.

Now the general manager of the Bears, Poles gets to make his first of several hires when he decides on the organization’s next head coach. One particular coaching candidate may seem higher than the rest on the list, too, because of a common factor between the two.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles shares the same agent as coaching candidate Matt Eberflus.

Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator has been amongst several rumors and reports lately, many in conjunction with the Bears’ coaching search.

Eberflus has been said to be one of the finalists for the Bears head coaching gig.

The Athletic’s Adam Jahns reported that Eberflus is indeed considered one of the finalists for the job, and Jahns is one of the more well-connected guys. If Jahns reports it, you can believe it.

The interesting connection between Poles and Eberflus is, in fact, their sharing the same agent. Now, while that’s not an end-all, be-all, it is certainly noteworthy.

Eberflus has spent the past four seasons as the Colts’ defensive coordinator and has seen some success in certain areas. No area is bigger, though, than in the takeaway category.

In his four years with the Colts, Eberflus’ defense has finished top 10 in takeaways three times — and twice in the top five, both of the last two years. If there is one area the Bears defense has to improve, it’s in taking the football away.

Sean Desai tried the “takeaway bucket” in camp last year, and while it was fun, it didn’t exactly pan out in the regular season. The Bears finished 26th in takeaways in 2021.

If Eberflus were to be hired as a head coach, his next steps would of course be to hire a staff. His defensive coordinator hire would likely be someone who preaches taking the football away as well. But, not just preaching it, pulling results out of his guys — that’s the key.

We’ll see if the connection between Poles and Eberflus comes to any finality in the coaching search, here, in the coming days.