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Bears Expected To Extend GM Ryan Poles; Team Authorizes Upper-Crust HC Salary For Ben Johnson

February 4, 2025 by Pro Football Rumors

Going 0-for-3 in winning seasons as Bears GM, Ryan Poles nevertheless received a vote of confidence from team president Kevin Warren. The third-year Bears honcho installed Poles as the leader of the HC search process, doing so shortly after the club’s decision to can Matt Eberflus.

Poles arrived in Chicago two days before the Bears hired Eberflus. This gave the ex-Chiefs exec say in whom the Bears hired, albeit without him running the 2022 search. As such, Poles will be more closely tied to his second HC hire. The Bears’ latest HC add comes with much greater fanfare compared to Eberflus, and due to the demand Ben Johnson created, a high salary will come with it.

The Bears signed off on a $13MM-per-year deal for Johnson, according to ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin. That AAV more than doubles Eberflus’, with Cronin placing that at $6MM. While three AFC West coaches (Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh) are out-earning Johnson, not many others are. With coaching salaries not tied to the cap, teams are not required to make them public. But Johnson’s money likely checks in as a top-10 HC salary. It came after the Bears won a bidding war of sorts.

Johnson, 38, received extensive interest from the Jaguars and Raiders. While Mark Davis said the Raiders never made an offer, they were linked to preparing a big-ticket HC contract to add the successful Lions OC. The Jaguars also were believed to have Johnson atop their list. Trent Baalke‘s presence impeded Jacksonville — though, Johnson was believed to have stopped short of asking the Jaguars to move on from their then-GM — while Tom Brady‘s Raiders sales pitch could not match what the Bears presented.

That said, the two coaches Las Vegas and Jacksonville did ultimately hire — Liam Coen, Pete Carroll — will not have holdover GMs. The Jags are still searching — for an exec Coen will need to approve — while the Raiders hired ex-Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek. Johnson will work with Poles, but Cronin adds the high-end play-caller did not call for the Bears to start fresh at GM. Furthermore, Poles is likely to receive an extension that aligns with Johnson’s deal.

As it stands, Poles is signed through the 2026 season. However, Cronin adds the Bears are expected to authorize an extension to align Poles with Johnson. This will be a significant development for Poles, who is 15-36 as a GM. The Bears gave Poles’ predecessor — Ryan Pace — more time (seven seasons), and his first playoff berth did not come until his fourth season. Pace’s second HC hire (Matt Nagy) was responsible for that, after John Fox preceded Eberflus in going 0-for-3 in postseason appearances in Chicago.

The Bears gave Pace an extension during his fourth GM offseason as well, aligning him with Nagy. Although Warren is a new piece to this puzzle, a Poles deal coming this offseason would be quite similar to the Bears’ previous front office timeline.

Poles, 39, has certainly not been the most successful member of the 2022 GM hiring class. Neither Kwesi Adofo-Mensah nor Omar Khan has received an extension yet, despite two playoff berths occurring on their respective watches. The Giants have retained Joe Schoen, though he has also not received an extension and will enter 2025 on a hot seat. The Raiders fired Dave Ziegler midway through his second season. Poles beating his group to an extension would be surprising, but Pace’s tenure shows the Bears giving their GMs more time than HCs to turn the operation around.

An extension certainly does not make a GM bulletproof, as the 2022 ouster of Jon Robinson (Titans) and 2023 dismissal of Steve Keim (Cardinals) show. But a second contract will obviously prove financially beneficial for Poles. The Bears were able to land the biggest fish in this year’s coaching pool, however, and Poles would appear to be receiving tremendous credit for it. How Johnson fares with Caleb Williams will define Poles’ GM tenure in Chicago, but the young exec may not be facing a situation where he is on a particularly hot seat going into his fourth season.

Filed Under: Bears

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