How involved will Bears president Kevin Warren be in football operations? – Chicago Bears Blog

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has a new boss after the team named Kevin Warren as president and CEO, the first executive hired from outside the organization in its 103-year history.

The Poles no longer report to chairman George McCaskey, who oversaw the GM in his first season in 2022. Warren’s strengths as a leader gave the Bears the confidence to return to their original structure where the general manager reports to the team president. This happened under outgoing general manager Ted Phillips prior to last season. Phillips retires.

Despite the change in the organizational structure, the Poles still have the final say in football matters.

“Ryan Poles remains in charge of our football operations and has full authority to do what he believes is best for the Bears,” McCaskey said Tuesday when the team announced Warren’s hiring.

That build isn’t uncommon, but it wasn’t in place during Warren’s last NFL stop with the Minnesota Vikings. Warren, who served as the Vikings’ chief operating officer from 2015-19, was in charge of business operations, while former Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman was in charge of football operations. Warren and Spielman report separately to Vikings owner Mark Wilf.

“…There were certain things just from a (football) operational standpoint that I wasn’t involved with (in Minnesota). This is where this becomes my job,” Warren said. “Because I want us to grow to the point where there’s no football side and no business side. It’s an organization.

“If you’re an owner, you don’t wake up in the morning and say how’s my business side at the Chicago Bears going and how’s the football side? You say how is my franchise doing? I think it’s important that someone like me can work on both sides of the aisle. It gives a little more synergy.”

Warren began his NFL career playing football for the St. Louis Rams and was part of the team that won Super Bowl XXXIV in the 1999 season. What he learned from former Rams coach Dick Vermeil about the organization’s shared goal of winning a championship is based on facts rather than emotions.

He takes this approach when involved in football matters, relying on cooperation with the Poles and relying on advice from Vermeil if they disagree.

“I’m confident because of where we both came from,” Warren said. “He was in the Chiefs Super Bowl (in 2020), I’m from the Rams Super Bowl, I think we both know what it takes to win a Super. Bowl.

“When people say about cooperation, they think that someone will fold. But that’s not it, let’s go get the facts and figure things out as far as what works best and if you put the McCaskey family and the goal of winning a championship and you say let’s find the fans and put the players the best. position, you’ll find things become pretty clear.”

Warren doesn’t begin his presidency of the Bears until April, after the rush of NFL free agency and before the 27-29. April draft. Chicago is currently number one.

The Poles said they support “one hundred percent” the idea of ​​Warren challenging him on football decisions. The idea of ​​collaboration is something the CEO said was part of his structure in the meeting with McCaskey and Phillips, and he’s ready to begin it with Warren.

“There is a lot of information that will help us,” the Poles said. “Everybody has blind spots, and when you have someone from a different background who’s been through a couple of different organizations, they can give you a little insight if maybe there’s a blind spot that you didn’t see.

“So he’s been through a bunch of those tough decisions, and just removing them helps both of us.”