How will the Chicago Bears conduct the search for a new GM and coach? And what do we know about the search committee? 5 questions – and answers – about the coming days.

A few hours after notifying Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy they were fired, Chicago Bears President George McCaskey promised to seek to replace them “that will lead to the best possible choices to lead the Bears to success.”

McCaskey and President and CEO Ted Phillips spoke to the media for an hour Monday afternoon detailing how they will find the Bears’ next general manager and coach.

Here are five questions they answered during that session.

1. Who will participate in the search for the Bears?

While McCaskey said he will ultimately make the decision on GM and the next coach, the Bears assembled a five-person search committee — McCaskey, Hall of Fame executive, Bill Polian, Phillips , vice president of player interactions LaMar “Soup” Campbell and senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Tanesha Wade.

• Polian, 79, has spent 32 years in the NFL and is the executive director of the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts. His teams have won the Super Bowl five times, including a win with the Colts over the Bears in the 2006 season. Among his coaching hires are Hall of Famers Tony Dungy and Marv Levy, as well as Dom Capers and Jim Caldwell.

McCaskey began consulting Polian throughout the season as he tried to determine the fates of Pace and Nagy.

“I was struck in our early conversations with Bill about how good he was at the game and even about our situation,” McCaskey said. “When we called him off the pitch, he asked us detailed questions about our squad, about our injury situation with specific players. He was heavily involved in the game in general and the Bears situation in particular. So I think we’ll be counting on Bill to help us make this decision.”

• Phillips has been the President and CEO of the Bears since 1999, and the team has hired three general managers and five head coaches. During his tenure, the Bears reached the knockout stages six times and lost 10 or more games, nine times.

“I have complete confidence in Ted,” McCaskey said. “Because I have so much respect for his judgment, his analytical skills, his instincts when it comes to the people we are interviewing, and ultimately he will negotiate the general’s contract. director and head coach.”

• Campbell is a former NFL quarterback with the Detroit Lions. The Bears hired him in 2017 to work with the players and stay on board to help the Bears determine how candidates would lead players.

“Every day, he’s in the dressing room talking to the players, what’s important, what’s on their mind, what bothers them, what they’re happy about,” Phillips said. “He will add insight into how the dressing room can respond to different coaching styles, different leadership styles.”

• Wade began his career with the Bears as an events and entertainment director and was promoted to a new position in the fall. Her participation is due to the Bears’ effort to consider a diverse pool of candidates.

“Tanesha, she’s so smart and she’s going to help us look at the diversity of thoughts and implicit biases that many people have when they’re trying to hire leadership, whether it’s a coach or a coach. general manager,” said Phillips.

2. How will the search proceed?

McCaskey said the Bears will have a “long list” of candidates for both positions.

The Bears began setting up interviews on Monday. According to multiple reports, they have made requests to the Colts Morocco Brown university admissions director, Cleveland Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Browns VP of player personnel Glenn Cook for GM interviews and former Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson, Buffalo Bills Defensive Coordinator, Leslie Frazier and Bills coordinator Brian Daboll to interview the coach.

Pederson, Frazier, and Daboll are notable because it shows the Bears doing training interviews before they decide on a GM. McCaskey said the Bears want to hire a GM first.

“But if we see a head coach candidate that we think is a good fit, we’ll do what it takes to bring him in,” McCaskey said.

McCaskey hopes the variety of experiences in the interview room will lead to the productive conversations needed to select the right people.

“We expect a frank and free conversation,” McCaskey said. “Bill said that when he interviewed Tony Dungy, in the first 12 minutes he knew that Tony was his man and they continued to talk football for another 8 hours. So we look forward to having such in-depth conversations.”

3. What qualities are they looking for in a GM and a coach?

McCaskey has emphasized many times that the Bears have always been open about what they want in a GM and coach.

He said the interviews with the coach will “not be limited by the philosophy, the scheme, whether the candidate’s background is offensive on the ball, defensive or special teams, whether the candidate has experience previous head coach or not, whether the candidate’s background is in college. professional games or games, or financial considerations. ”

When asked if someone having a relationship with the Bears would make him more comfortable, he said it would depend “on who that person is and their vision for the Bears.” And he also said the Bears are open to different philosophies on how to achieve success on the field, whether that’s through rebuilding or with much of their current team.

McCaskey mentioned Polian’s book, “The Super Bowl Blueprint,” several times in his responses to the search, including when he said that the Bears were looking for leaders in different regions. GM positions and coaches.

McCaskey said of the book “(Polian) said he was struck by (how) great teams have coaches that the players respect. “They don’t have to like him, they don’t have to love him, but they respect him. So the main quality we’ll be looking for in both the general manager and the head coach is leadership. ”

He said the Bears are committed to “being fair in the process” because they consider diversity in their hiring.

“What I keep hearing as a member of the diversity committee (NFL) is that people just want a fair process,” McCaskey said. “It’s not a specific outcome, as long as everyone gets a fair shake. The same quality interview another candidate might have gotten, the same chance to be heard that every other candidate gets. That is an important part of the process. We don’t know what the outcome will be.”

4. How is this search different from the last Bears GM search?

After the 2014 season, the Bears hired former NFL GM Ernie Accorsi to help them with their search that eventually led to the hiring of Pace and coach John Fox.

Thus, Polian’s inclusion feels familiar.

“The change in the interview room was that we had three new people in the room, so we benefited from their point of view,” says McCaskey.

The larger change that has been announced is that the new GM will report to McCaskey rather than Phillips, who is focusing its attention on the Bears’ potential purchase of the former Arlington International Circuit property such as a possible site for a new stadium.

However, Phillips will still be involved in the search. He said he learned a lot through participating in other searches.

“The hiring of Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy, I don’t regret it,” Phillips said. “Both bring a lot to the Bears. In the end, on the field, the result wasn’t what we wanted, but they checked a lot of boxes. You can’t ask for better leaders, you can’t ask for more progressive thinkers, you can’t ask for people who have given their best, have a great work ethic, are humble, and I will look for a lot of those same qualities.

“And hopefully with Bill’s extensive expertise, coaching strategies and valuation techniques, that will add a nice addition to our search and help. We found the right person.”

5. What does midfielder Justin Fields look like?

Fields, whom Pace drafted in 11th in the spring, hasn’t had a great rookie season under Nagy, going 2-8 at the start while throwing 1,870 yards, seven touchdowns. and 10 interceptions.

While noting he’s “not a football evaluator,” McCaskey said he sees “a dynamic player with a lot of potential, a lot of ability, a lot of heart and a strong work ethic.” .”

“We’re looking for a general manager and head coach who can develop not only the midfield position but also talent around him, establishing a solid defense to help the quartet,” McCaskey said. defend, bring the Bears to success.

However, McCaskey said Fields will not be involved in the search. He was also careful not to insist that the GM or the new coach be enamored with Fields, refusing to theorize about candidates who might want to go in a different direction at quarterback.

“We don’t know what the candidates have to say because we haven’t interviewed any of them,” he said. “We want to know what their plans are for that position with the Bears.”