Chicago Bears general manager does not rule out trading for a head coach

The Chicago Bears have opened up all avenues to bringing in their next head coach this offseason. Numerous interviews have already been requested by the front office and surely more will come up within this week. However, there is a rather unique way that the Chicago Bears could go about hiring the next leader of the franchise.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles is open to trading for the team’s next head coach

During a press conference on Tuesday, Poles did not shy away from addressing a question about trading draft picks for a head coach.

“We’ll look at all avenues to get the best coach here,” Poles said.

While it isn’t a lengthy in-depth sound bite from the young general manager, it was not an immediate turn down of the idea. Names like Kevin O’Connell, Mike Tomlin and Kyle Shanahan have all been floated around over the past month as potential options for any team to attempt to trade for if they were interested.

The idea of Shanahan being traded to the Chicago Bears has been already rumored since the firing of Matt Eberflus. Although the rumors have died down as of late, he is still a coach that San Francisco would listen to a trade about if the price is right.

Tomlin has proven to be a consistent winner in his 18 seasons leading the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 52-year-old has never had a losing season with the franchise and is close to hitting 200 career wins as an NFL head coach. Tomlin would be a dream hire for any organization, not just the Chicago Bears.

O’Connell has plenty experience around the Chicago Bears. The 39-year-old was hired by the Minnesota Vikings in the same coaching cycle as Eberflus three years ago. The offensive minded coach worked under Sean McVay in Los Angeles for two seasons, one in which they won a Super Bowl together in 2021. O’Connell is rumored to be using his upcoming expiring contract with Minnesota as leverage in any type of trade chatter to get a long-term deal to stay with the Vikings. There isn’t any total truth behind that however, and him being an option to be traded could still be a very serious idea.

Why the Chicago Bears trading for a head coach is highly unlikely

When it’s all said and done, it will be a longshot for the Chicago Bears to trade for a head coach. The concept itself is extremely rare, and these three candidates would cost a lot of draft capital in the process if the front office were to go through with such a move.

It also takes two to tango in these circumstances. Shanahan, Tomlin and O’Connell are all highly valued in the positions that they are in right now. Even though things were rough in San Francisco this year, it is hard to imagine general manager John Lynch letting Shanahan walk out the door.

Tomlin’s established excellence in Pittsburgh would make their front office look foolish if they were to let him leave, and it feels like things are just getting started for O’Connell in Minnesota. Even if the Vikings were sold on trading O’Connell, it’s hard to think that they would do it within the division.

With the Chicago Bears already requesting to interview a plethora of candidates, that should be the route they take this offseason when hiring the next head coach of the franchise. They won’t have to give up any draft capital while doing so, and the process is one that is much more familiar for Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren.