How Ben Johnson, Ryan Poles discovered they could serve Bears well together
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Ryan Poles worked in a small space in the Boston College football office, an area assigned to a graduate assistant grinding away on lower-level work and recruiting for the Eagles’ coaching staff.
The offensive lineman recently had been cut by the Bears and wanted to keep working in football, and a return to his alma mater was the way to do that. Poles only spent one season at BC before moving to the Kansas City Chiefs as a scouting assistant.
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Ben Johnson took Poles’ seat. Literally. He was a graduate assistant for the Eagles from 2009 to 2010, assuming roles Poles previously had.
“Actually, we found out that he worked in a small little cubicle that I did when I was at Boston College just a year after,” Poles said, “which is kind of crazy to think about.”
That’s a fun factoid, but it doesn’t ensure a solid working relationship. It did, however, help establish a network of resources for Poles, the Bears’ general manager, and Johnson, his new head coach, to do some homework.
“There’s a lot of crossover with people that we’re really close to,” Poles said in a Wednesday press conference. “… A lot of our friends, a lot of people we trust connected both of us. And then, when we got on the call and spent time with each other, there was just a vibe to it that was awesome.”
While the Bears used a larger committee for their initial interviews, Poles used part of the time allotted for a private conversation where he and Johnson figured out if they could work well together.
Poles was in front of a computer at Halas Hall. Johnson sat before another at the Lions’ performance center. Both guys knew the conversation would be important, but there were no nerves. Poles and Johnson were just themselves, and quickly found sync anticipated by all the mutual friends who predicted that would happen.
“(The Bears) made this thing clear how we are completely aligned, from (chairman George McCaskey to president Kevin Warren to) Ryan and myself, we’re going to be in this whole thing together,” Johnson said. “So, all I needed to find out was verification of who Ryan was as a person. And I got that on that Zoom interview. We spent time alone together and then in a group setting, and I’ve got tremendous confidence in Ryan.”
Alignment has been a buzz word around Johnson’s candidacy as a head coach over the past few seasons, without a precise definition of what that meant.
Did he want a GM to come in with him, or at least someone matching his contract length or something close to it? Would he prefer someone he had worked with before? Was personnel control coveted?
Those were all possible asks for someone with true leverage, who many teams would love to employ.
It brought into some question whether Johnson would want to work with a GM who had been around for three years, had received heavy criticism in 2024 and was on his second coach.
Alignment, in Johnson’s case, came down to one thing above all else.
Trust.
“I like to think that I’m a low-ego guy, low-maintenance guy,” Johnson said. “The whole control factor, I don’t need that. I just need somebody that I can trust. In the past, when I’ve seen it not work, there’s been dysfunction, there’s been an element of disconnect between the GM, the head coach, other executives, and quite frankly, I did not feel that here. I see nothing but lockstep between Kevin, George and Ryan, and I really believe we’re going to have each other’s backs.”
Bears brass wouldn’t comment directly on Poles’ contract status, but it was clear that he and Johnson are comfortable working together.
“I truly believe in the character and integrity of this man,” Johnson said. “In terms of true alignment, you’re going to have to talk to the powers that be here. They can fill you in on that structure, but we are going to be locked at the hip and are every step of the way with all the decisions that are made.”
That includes working together to build a roster, with focus on talent over who has the final say.
“Yeah, we’re going to spend a lot of time together,” Poles said. “That was part of our interview process, how do you handle discrepancies when it comes to player acquisition. And he answered it perfectly.
“It’s spending time and watching tape together to figure out what direction we need to go in. We’re going to have different opinions, we’re going to see players differently, but it’s coming together, watching tape and figuring out what’s best for the organization. So, I think that part is going to come easy.”
Johnson was impressed by the roster Poles has thus far put together. Poles believes in Johnson as a coach and as a maximizer of talent. Putting their minds together, they believe, is the best thing for the Bears.
“He has a vision for the players that we have on the roster,” Poles said. “And, also, with the two of us putting our brains together, the direction we’re going to go, the players we’re going to bring here is going to be lined up and is going to be a lot of fun.”